WO2024037746A1 - Stockage d'énergie thermique, système et procédé - Google Patents

Stockage d'énergie thermique, système et procédé Download PDF

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Publication number
WO2024037746A1
WO2024037746A1 PCT/EP2023/056501 EP2023056501W WO2024037746A1 WO 2024037746 A1 WO2024037746 A1 WO 2024037746A1 EP 2023056501 W EP2023056501 W EP 2023056501W WO 2024037746 A1 WO2024037746 A1 WO 2024037746A1
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WIPO (PCT)
Prior art keywords
fluid
temperature
pressure
component
components
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PCT/EP2023/056501
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English (en)
Inventor
Justin Scholz
Pit Sippel
Florian Kaufmann
Masoud GHODS
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Phelas Gmbh
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Publication of WO2024037746A1 publication Critical patent/WO2024037746A1/fr

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    • F—MECHANICAL ENGINEERING; LIGHTING; HEATING; WEAPONS; BLASTING
    • F01—MACHINES OR ENGINES IN GENERAL; ENGINE PLANTS IN GENERAL; STEAM ENGINES
    • F01K—STEAM ENGINE PLANTS; STEAM ACCUMULATORS; ENGINE PLANTS NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR; ENGINES USING SPECIAL WORKING FLUIDS OR CYCLES
    • F01K3/00—Plants characterised by the use of steam or heat accumulators, or intermediate steam heaters, therein
    • F01K3/12—Plants characterised by the use of steam or heat accumulators, or intermediate steam heaters, therein having two or more accumulators

Definitions

  • the invention lies in the field of energy storage and particularly in the field of thermal storage.
  • the goal of invention is providing a thermal energy storage system, a method performed in such a system and corresponding use of the system.
  • Electrical energy storage systems store base-load energy during off-peak periods and use the stored energy to provide electrical power during peak periods. Such systems are essential to the power generation industries. In conventional power generation systems, an energy storage system can provide substantial benefits including load following, peaking power and standby reserve. By providing spinning reserve and a dispatched load, electrical energy storage systems can increase the net efficiency of thermal power sources while reducing harmful emissions.
  • electrical energy storage systems are regarded as a key technology in energy distribution networks with distributed generators, in order to compensate for any power fluctuation and to provide uninterruptible power supply during periods of voltage drop due to, for example, line faults.
  • Pumped hydro is the most widely used form of energy storage system. It stores hydraulic potential energy by pumping water from a lower reservoir to a higher reservoir. The amount of stored energy is proportional to the height difference between the two reservoirs and the volume of water stored. During periods of high demand for electricity, water falls from the higher reservoir to the lower reservoir through a turbine generator in a manner similar to traditional hydroelectric facilities. Pumped hydro storage is a mature technology with high efficiency, large volume, long storage period and relatively low capital cost per unit energy. However, a scarcity of available sites for two large reservoirs and one or more dams is the major drawback of pumped hydro. A long lead time for construction (typically ⁇ 10 years) and environmental issues (e.g., removing trees and vegetation from the land prior to the reservoir being flooded) are two other major drawbacks of the pumped hydro system.
  • CAES Compressed Air Energy Storage
  • CAES Compressed Air Energy Storage
  • CAES CAES
  • the combustion of fossil fuels leads to emission of contaminates such as nitrogen oxides and carbon oxides which render the CAES less attractive.
  • CAES suffers from a reliance on favorable geography such as caverns.
  • CAES can only be economically feasible for power plants that have nearby rock mines, salt caverns, aquifers or depleted gas fields.
  • EP 1 989 400 Bl refers to systems for storing energy and using the stored energy to generate electrical energy or drive a propeller.
  • the present invention provides a method of storing energy comprising: providing a gaseous input, producing a cryogen from the gaseous input; storing the cryogen; expanding the cryogen; using the expanded cryogen to drive a turbine and recovering cold energy from the expansion of the cryogen.
  • EP 2 603 761 Bl relates to methods of integrating one or more thermal processes with one another, wherein thermal processes to be integrated have different supply and demand criteria for thermal energy.
  • the method involves the use of one or more thermal stores.
  • EP 2 753 808 Al relates to a system for storing energy by means of compressed air, wherein: - a storage volume takes in air under elevated pressure pH, - ambient air is compressed in order to store energy and brought into the storage volume, - for removal from storage, compressed air is taken out of the storage volume and discharged into the environment, outputting work, - a turbo machine (low-pressure turbo machine) - or a plurality of such machines - for alternate compression and expansion compresses ambient air to a mean pressure pM or expands it therefrom, - a machine (high-pressure machine) for alternate compression and expansion compresses ambient air from the mean pressure pM to the storage pressure pH or expands it therefrom, or a plurality of such machines fluidically connected in parallel perform this task, - these machines (low-pressure turbo machine and high-pressure turbo machine) are fluidically connected in series and mechanically coupled to a respective or common generator/motor (i.e.
  • CN 102 758 689 B relates to an ultra-supercritical air energy storage/ release system, which is a novel large-scale energy storage system and relates to an energy storage technology, namely, air is compressed into an ultra-supercritical state by using off-peak electricity of a power station, heat of compression is stored simultaneously, air is cooled by using an expansion engine and simultaneously expansion work is recovered to improve the efficiency, and the ultra-supercritical air is cooled, liquefied and stored by using stored cold energy; and liquid air is pressurized and absorbs heat to reach an ultra-supercritical state at the power utilization peak and further absorb heat of compression for power generation by a turbo-generator.
  • EP 2 753 861 Bl relates cryogenic energy storage systems, and particularly methods for capturing cold energy and re-using that captured cold energy.
  • the systems allow cold thermal energy from the power recovery process of a cryogenic energy storage system to be captured effectively, to be stored, and to be effectively utilized.
  • the captured cold energy could be reused in any co-located process, for example to enhance the efficiency of production of the cryogen, to enhance the efficiency of production of liquid natural gas, and/or to provide refrigeration.
  • the systems are such that the cold energy can be stored at very low pressures, cold energy can be recovered from various at least one components of the system, and/or cold energy can be stored in more than one thermal store.
  • the present invention relates an energy storage system, the system comprising: at least one fluid input element for inputting at least one fluid, at least 2 thermal storage components configured to control a temperature of the at least one fluid, at least 2 pressure controlling components configured to perform at least one pressure change, and at least one liquefaction module configured to yield at least partially a liquid phase from at least one of the at least one fluid.
  • the term energy storage system is intended to refer to a system suitable for a cyclic process of charging, storing and discharging. Therefore, the thermal energy potential created during the process should be conserved.
  • the use of thermal energy storages within the system reduces energy losses to the environment significantly (i.e., by not rejecting compression heat to the environment) and thereby enhancing the round-trip efficiency of the system.
  • the liquid yield and hence, the cycle efficiency are enhanced by the use of thermal storage components, which allows storing heat on low temperature levels in order to assist the liquefaction process during charging. This is particularly advantageous, as it reduces the need for additional "cold" production by means of energy extraction from the system (i.e., by expansion) or inefficient cooling methods like throttling.
  • the present invention relates to a system comprised of relatively fewer components, which renders the system of the present invention less complex (in comparison to similar systems typically used in the art), easier to produce, more reliable, with less maintenance effort, fewer needed raw materials and less prone to error.
  • the approach of the present invention provides a lean process that implements liquefaction as energy storage.
  • the approach of the present invention is particularly advantageous as it, for instance, allows achieving this by means of using pressure controlling component(s) to cover both expansion and compression steps necessary for the whole process.
  • the approach of the present invention is particularly beneficial as the use of heat exchanger components are, as a part of the liquefaction module and the thermal storage components, sized and designed to perform sufficiently well in different operating modes (priming stage, normal charging stage, discharge for priming the cold storages, and normal discharge stage) instead of having separate heat exchangers for each operating mode.
  • the system may be configured to evaporate at least a portion of at least one of the at least one fluid.
  • system may be configured to condensate at least a portion of at least one of the at least one fluid.
  • system may comprise at least one flow direction, wherein the system may be configured to reverse at least one of the at least one flow direction.
  • the system may comprise at least one fluid output element. At least one of the at least one fluid output element may be configured to exhaust at least one of the at least one fluid. Additionally or alternatively, the at least one fluid output element may be configured to feed back to the system at least a portion of at least one of the at least one fluid.
  • feeding back the fluid firstly allows to recycle the gas stream after partial liquefaction back to the liquefaction module to extract heat on the low temperature level required for liquefaction. Secondly, after utilizing the maximum possible cooling capacity of the fed-back stream, it can also be used to partially feed the system, which enables lower energy consumption in the drying process as the stream is already dry. Third, it is also advantageous as feeding the fluid to possible existing secondary cycles allows using the dry stream and adjust pressure levels without the need of an additional feed.
  • one of the at least 2 thermal storage components may be configured to control the temperature of the at least one fluid, wherein the one of the at least 2 thermal storage components may be arranged in series to at least one of the at least 2 pressure controlling components.
  • one of the at least 2 thermal storage components may be configured to control the temperature of the at least one fluid before a first pressure controlling component.
  • one of the at least 2 thermal storage components may be configured to control the temperature of the at least one fluid before a second pressure controlling component.
  • One of the at least 2 thermal storage components may be configured to control the temperature of the at least one fluid after the first pressure controlling component. Additionally or alternatively, one of the at least 2 thermal storage components may be configured to control the temperature of the at least one fluid after the second pressure controlling component.
  • cold is intended to refer to the lower energy level heat, or the thermal reservoirs below ambient temperature.
  • the system may comprise at least one splitting element configured to split a flow of the at least one fluid.
  • One of the at least 2 thermal storage components may be configured to control the temperature of the at least one fluid, wherein the one of the at least 2 thermal storage components may be arranged in series to at least one of the at least one liquefaction module.
  • One of the at least 2 thermal storage components may be configured to control the temperature of the at least one fluid before one of the at least one liquefaction module.
  • One of the at least 2 thermal storage components may be configured to control the temperature of the at least one fluid after one of the at least one liquefaction module.
  • One of the at least 2 thermal storage components may be configured to control the temperature of the at least one fluid in parallel to at least one component of at least one of the at least one liquefaction module.
  • the system may comprise at least one storage tank for cryogenic liquid.
  • One of the at least 2 thermal storage components may be configured to control the temperature and pressure of the at least one fluid in at least one of the at least one storage tank for cryogenic liquid.
  • One of the at least 2 thermal storage components may be configured to control the temperature of the at least one fluid after one of the at least one splitting element.
  • One of the at least 2 thermal storage components may be configured to control the temperature of the at least one fluid at least 2 positions in the system.
  • thermal storage component with several heat exchangers or storages can be implemented at multiple locations simultaneously.
  • This can reduce the complexity and losses of the system, as only one thermal storage component can be used, for instance, to store compression heat for several compression stages.
  • this allows to optimize the heat usage, and thus, the efficiency of the system, between different operational modes, such as storing the heat at higher temperature levels after two consecutive compression stages while charging the system, and increasing the temperature of the fluid (thus higher enthalpy) before each expansion stage while discharging.
  • system may comprise at least 3 thermal storage components. In another embodiment, the system may comprise at least 4 thermal storage components.
  • At least one of the at least 4 thermal storage components may be configured to control the temperature of: the at least one fluid after the first pressure controlling component, at least one of the at least 4 thermal storage components may be configured to control the temperature of the at least one fluid after the second pressure controlling component, and 2 of the at least 4 thermal storage components are arranged in series and configured to control the temperature of the at least one fluid parallel to at least one component of at least one of the at least one liquefaction module.
  • the present invention implements this by two thermal storage components, one after each compression step.
  • the approach of the present invention is to enter the "cold section" of the system with ambient temperature, to prevent unnecessary depletion of cold from these parts of the system. Due to the large temperature change needed for liquefaction, the thermodynamic properties of the fluid and the storage media can change quite drastically.
  • the arrangement of two additional storages for temperatures below ambient temperature, in series to each other, can be necessary (based on the type of storage used) to make sure the intended amount of heat transfer and desired temperature levels are achieved. That is specially applies if the fluid is air, and the thermal storage components are implemented through secondary cycles with air at lower pressure as heat carrying media. This arrangement increases the overall performance, as it enables reaching to lower temperatures needed for a higher liquid yield.
  • thermal storage components are arranged in parallel to components of the liquefaction module. This enables to increase the liquid yield, exploiting and optimizing the use of the cold from the previous run and the independent use of the liquefaction module.
  • the at least one of the at least 2 pressure controlling components may comprise at least one of: a pump, a compression component, an expansion component, a heater, a heat exchanger component, a fan and a blower.
  • the at least one of the at least 2 pressure controlling components may comprise at least one positive displacement turbo machine.
  • One of the at least 2 pressure controlling components may be configured to compress the at least one fluid.
  • One of the at least 2 pressure controlling components may be configured to control the flow of the at least one fluid.
  • One of the at least 2 pressure controlling components may be configured to generate and/or consume mechanical energy.
  • the at least one of the at least 2 pressure controlling components may be configured to expand and/or compress the at least one fluid.
  • the at least one of the at least 2 pressure controlling components may be configured to operate reversibly.
  • At least one of the at least 2 pressure controlling components may comprise a compressor configured to operate reversibly.
  • the present invention is intended to for a system to be charged and discharged. In order to keep the process as lean as possible it is standing to reason to reuse the involved equipment in both operational modes. This means that where one component can serve multiple purposes or one component can be used in multiple steps of the process, the present invention makes use of these situations as best as possible. A less complex system/a system with fewer parts is more reliable, easier to produce and has less components for maintenance and requires fewer raw materials. In addition, physical compactness of the previously described system is significantly increased in comparison to similar systems.
  • reversible compressors are particularly advantageous, as these are also suitable for working as expanders by the means of flow reversal, which leads to a significant decrease in system complexity. This is accounted for by not using additional equipment for the expansion process during discharge of the system, i.e., additional expanders/turbines and generator.
  • the approach of the present invention allows using volumetric compressors as an expander when discharging the system to restore energy.
  • the present invention also allows using heat exchangers in the system both when charging and discharging the system, instead of having one heat exchanger for charging and another one for discharging.
  • the present invention provides a system with a reduced complexity, which results in less maintenance and services. This is apparent in the low number of components and their consistent reuse in multiple steps of the process required by the approach of the present invention.
  • the system may comprise at least 3 pressure controlling components. Additionally or alternatively, the system may comprise at least 4 pressure controlling components.
  • One of the at least 2 pressure controlling components may be arranged in series to at least one of the at least one fluid input element.
  • One of the at least 2 pressure controlling components may be arranged in series to at least one of the at least one liquefaction module.
  • One of the at least 2 pressure controlling components may be arranged in series to at least one of the at least one fluid output element.
  • One of the at least 2 pressure controlling components may be arranged in series to at least one of the at least 2 thermal storage components.
  • One of the at least 2 pressure controlling components may be arranged in series to at least one of the at least 2 pressure controlling components.
  • One of the at least 2 pressure controlling components may be arranged in parallel to at least one of the at least 2 pressure controlling components.
  • the at least 2 pressure controlling components may comprise at least one heater configured to heat the at least one fluid. Additionally or alternatively, the at least 2 pressure controlling components may comprise at least one heat exchanger component configured to change the thermal energy content of the at least one fluid.
  • the system may comprise at least one phase separator component configured to separate a liquid phase and/or a gas phase from the at least one fluid. At least one of the at least one phase separator component may be configured to supply a gas phase from the at least one fluid to at least one of the at least one liquefaction module.
  • the at least one fluid may comprise at least one of: air, nitrogen, helium, hydrogen, argon, methane, carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide, oxygen, water, or any combination thereof. Additionally or alternatively, the at least one fluid may comprise at least one cryogenic liquid of comprising at least one of: air, nitrogen, helium, hydrogen, argon, methane, carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide, oxygen, water or any combination thereof.
  • At least one of the first pressure controlling component, and the second pressure controlling component may be configured to compress to a pressure above a critical pressure of the at least one fluid.
  • the system may comprise at least one impurity removing component configured to remove impurities from the at least one fluid.
  • One of the at least one impurity removing component may comprise at least one of: filter, adsorbent station, phase separator, cold trap, fluid removal component.
  • the at least one impurity removing component may be configured to remove at least one of: water, carbon dioxide, hydrocarbons, suspended particles or any combination thereof.
  • the impurity removal component removes moisture to reach to a dew point of at least 263 K, more preferably 243 K, most preferably 223 K.
  • the at least one impurity removing component may be arranged in series to at least one of at least one of: at least 2 pressure controlling components, at least one of at least 2 thermal storage components, at least one of the at least one liquefaction module, one of the at least one phase separator, at least one of at least one pump, and at least one of at least one storage tank for cryogenic liquid.
  • the least one of the at least one impurity removing component may be configured to remove impurities immediately after one of the at least one fluid input elements.
  • at least one of the at least one impurity removing component may be configured to remove impurities before the first pressure controlling component and/or before the second pressure controlling component.
  • the system may be configured to actuate the at least one impurity removing component after the first pressure controlling component and/or after the second pressure controlling component.
  • the system may also be configured to actuate the at least one impurity removing component after and/or before at least one of the at least 2 thermal storage components.
  • Freezing of impurities such as atmospheric air moisture content, and their accumulation in the cryogenic section of the system such as in the heat exchangers/heat exchanger components may cause problems in operating the system.
  • a low dew point is necessary, which can be achieved, for example, by an adsorbent exposed to the fluid.
  • the cyclic process of the present invention is particularly beneficial, as the reversal of the flow can be used for regeneration of the adsorbents and remove impurities from within them.
  • the present invention requires less effort for regeneration of the adsorbents due to its cyclic nature compared to a conventional liquefaction process.
  • the adsorbent stage for impurity removal can be sized for the entire process time, and a less complex impurity removal component is required (without intermediate cleaning process).
  • the present invention permits removing impurities at different positions in the system. For example, at the beginning of the process where the fluid is taken in. Removing impurities at elevated pressure increases the adsorption rate (lower dew point) and also enables using a pressure swing to regenerate the adsorbent. Furthermore, the present invention allows decreasing the energy consumption of for desiccants regeneration, as the excess heat existing in the system can be used.
  • One favorable implementation is to position it at the beginning of the process or after heat removal for the charging and after heating the fluid with the thermal storage during discharging. The heated fluid during discharge heats up the desiccants, shifting the equilibrium and leading to desorption. Impurities transported with the fluid also increase slightly the flow and this positively affects the power output of the discharge.
  • the present invention allows optimizing these effects and minimizing the additional energy consumption, and thus the overall efficiency, by means of a combination of several impurity removal components at different positions.
  • the present invention therefore allows having one stage before the first compression stage at room temperature (which is be regenerated without any additional energy consumption during the discharge process after the last expansion by the help of excess heat existing in the fluid before being exhaust) and another stage after the first or second compression stage at higher pressure (which may be regenerated without additional energy consumption by exploiting the heat from thermal energy storage in combination with a pressure swing).
  • Such positioning of the impurity removal components enables the present invention to operate without additional energy consumption for impurity removal.
  • the at least one of the at least 2 thermal storage components may comprise at least one storage configured to store thermal energy.
  • system may be configured to store heat in at least one of the at least 2 thermal storage components with direct heat exchange.
  • At least one of the at least one storage may be at least one of: a packed bed heat storage, structured solid heat storage, latent heat storage.
  • fixed-bed thermal storage components e.g., packed bed heat storage, structured solid heat storage
  • these storages provide the option to discharge the storage at almost constant fluid outlet temperature and can compensate for different flow rates in charging and discharging or the difference as a result of different power demand of the application.
  • Fixed-bed thermal storage components also require little external control, which reduces complexity, and rarely use critical resources which makes them favorable over other thermal storage systems and methods known in the art.
  • they are easy to implement and have the advantage of being stable in high temperature regimes benefiting the process as a higher temperature level can be stored to aid the efficiency.
  • This type of thermal storage can also be used at cryogenic temperatures with the same heat storing material.
  • the previous benefits greatly enhance the flexibility in process design and minimize the components needed, as the process naturally requires a wide range of temperatures.
  • local resources can be used as storage material, which makes construction a lot easier, as transport of heavy low value bulk material from a central factory is not required and instead can be filled in at a site, wherein the system in installed, such as a user's site.
  • the at least one fluid may comprise at least one first fluid and at least one second fluid. Additionally, or alternatively, the at least one first fluid may be not in direct contact to the at least one second fluid.
  • the system may be configured to store thermal energy in at least one of the at least 2 thermal storage components, wherein one of the at least 2 thermal storage components may be configured to utilize the at least one second fluid. At least one of the at least one first fluid and at least one of the at least one second fluid are identical.
  • utilizing a second fluid for indirect heat transfer enables implementing a fixed bed storages without direct contact to the first fluid, whereby maintaining the benefits described above. For this only heat exchangers may need to be withstanding high pressures and other parts of the storage can be less complex. Moreover, this is also beneficial, as the same thermal storage can easily act at different positions in the system, which results in the need of less components.
  • the second fluid can be selected based on its properties, e.g., to prevent a phase transition caused by low temperatures. Preventing a phase transition is beneficial as it can create adverse effects if happens inside a fixed bed storage.
  • the coldest part should be arranged at the bottom of the storage, however a two-phase mixture is hard to transport upwards against gravity inside the storage; the change in density of the phase transition makes it hard or impossible to maintain the flow and contact time between the two media; evenly distributing the liquid and preventing droplet formation is impossible.
  • the present invention overcomes this problem by using a heat transfer media without a phase transition in the relevant temperature region.
  • the present invention provides the most efficient realization by reducing the pressure of the fluids and shift its transition temperature to lower temperatures, outside the range needed.
  • At least one of the at least one first fluid may be different from at least one of the at least one second fluid.
  • at least one of the at least 2 thermal storage components may comprise one of the at least 2 pressure controlling components, configured to control the flow of the at least one second fluid.
  • At least one of the at least 2 thermal storage components may comprise at least one heat exchanger component configured to control the thermal energy content of the at least one fluid.
  • the system may be configured to operate at least one direct heat exchange and/or at least one indirect heat exchange.
  • the at least one second fluid may be at least one of: gas, liquid, suspension, suspension comprising a phase changing material or any combination. Additionally or alternatively, the system may be configured to store thermal energy by means of the at least one second fluid.
  • the at least one second fluid may be configured to transfer thermal energy to/from the at least one storage with direct heat exchange.
  • the system may be configured to store compression heat in at least one of the at least 2 thermal storage components.
  • At least one of the at least 2 thermal storage components may comprise at least one element configured to withstand elevated pressures. Moreover, at least a part of the system may be configured to withstand pressures greater than 1 bar, preferably greater than 10 bar, more preferably greater than 40 bar, most preferably greater than 50 bars.
  • At least a part of the system may be configured to withstand pressures lower than 300 bar, preferably lower than 250 bar, more preferably lower than 200 bar.
  • At least one of the at least 2 thermal storage components may comprise at least one cold storage component.
  • At least one of the at least 2 thermal storage components may comprise at least one heat storage component.
  • At least one of the at least 2 thermal storage components may be configured to store heat at temperatures above surrounding ambient temperature.
  • At least one of the at least 2 thermal storage components may be configured to store heat at temperatures below surrounding ambient temperature.
  • At least one of the at least 2 thermal storage components may be configured to control the temperature of the at least one fluid at temperatures above surrounding ambient temperature.
  • At least one of the at least 2 thermal storage components may be configured to control the temperature of the at least one fluid at temperatures below surrounding ambient temperature.
  • At least one of the at least 2 thermal storage components may be configured to control the temperature of the at least one fluid at or close to at least one temperature constraint condition.
  • the at least one temperature constraint condition may comprise at least one of: a maximum temperature, wherein the maximum temperature may be determined by the temperature of the at least one fluid after compression, a minimum temperature of one of the at least one fluid in interaction with at least one of the at least 2 thermal storage components, a minimum temperature of the liquid phase of at least one of the at least one fluid, a temperature requirement of a component of the system downstream of another component of the system, a phase transition temperature of the at least one fluid with respect to its pressure level, a phase transition temperature of the at least one second fluid with respect to its pressure level, a common intermediate temperature of one of the at least one fluid between two consecutive thermal storage components, wherein the shared intermediate temperature may be determined to ensure that the two consecutive thermal storage components reach to a same internal temperature distribution before and after each consecutive charging and discharging of the system for the same time period, a temperature constraint determined to ensure a continuous heat flow between at least 2 media exchanging heat, wherein the continuous heat flow occurs along the length of a component of the system with either direct or indirect heat exchange
  • a lower temperature of a fluid results in a higher liquid yield as the fluid is expanded.
  • process components have temperature requirements and limits.
  • an expander usually cannot expand a liquid; as a consequence, the input temperature should be as close to the liquid phase transition of the fluid at given pressure as possible to maximize the liquid yield.
  • a throttling action for instance, can handle liquid in the input and thus the temperature can be below that point.
  • the minimum temperature level available is limited by temperatures that can be recovered from the thermal storage component (mainly determined by the storing temperature of the liquid evaporating during the discharge mode) or simply by the minimal temperature available from another stream (e.g., after expansion).
  • Another example is the limitation of a thermal storage component due to thermo-physical properties of the storage material. To optimize the process and thus the efficiency, the present invention exploits the lowest accessible temperature to increase the liquid yield, i.e., it operates close to these temperature constraint conditions.
  • One of the at least 2 thermal storage components may comprise a temperature lower than 273 K, preferably lower than 223 K, preferably lower than 183 K.
  • At least one of the at least 2 thermal storage components may comprise a temperature lower than 150 K, preferably lower than 140 K, more preferably lower than 120 K.
  • the system may be configured to operate 2 consecutive thermal storage components at matched temperature constraint conditions.
  • At least one of the at least 2 thermal storage components may be configured to extract the stored thermal energy. Additionally or alternatively, the system may be configured to balance extracted and stored thermal energy within one of the at least 2 thermal storage components.
  • At least one of the at least 2 thermal storage components may be configured to at least partially change the phase of at least one of the at least one fluid.
  • One of the at least one heat exchanger component may be configured to at least partially evaporate the at least one fluid.
  • the heat for evaporation needs to be supplied by one of the thermal storage components.
  • the phase transition changes the thermophysical properties of the fluid quite drastically, this is best implemented via a heat exchanger that can be optimized for the purpose.
  • the heat exchanger can transfer the heat from the storage to the fluid by means of the second fluid, resulting in the second fluid's temperature drop which then is stored back in the thermal storage.
  • the liquid can be pumped to its designated pressure right before the evaporation in the heat exchanger component. The recovery of this temperature level increases the efficiency of the system.
  • At least one heater may be used to at least partially change the phase of a fluid.
  • the system may comprise at least one electrical driving component. Additionally or alternatively, the system may comprise at least one motor. In one embodiment, the system may comprise at least one generator. In another embodiment, the system may comprise at least one control component.
  • system may comprise at least one control loop. In another embodiment, the system may comprise at least one control system.
  • the system may comprise at least one of: a sensor, an insulating component, a piping element, a heat exchanger, a heater, and a filter.
  • the at least one insulating component may comprise at least one of: glass wool, stone wool, rock wool, polystyrene, polytetrafluorethylene, cellulose, perlite, polystyrene foam, polyurethane, aerogel, soundproofing material, and vacuum.
  • the system may comprise at least one auxiliary component.
  • At least one of the at least 2 thermal storage components may comprise the at least one auxiliary blower.
  • the system may be configured to operate in a charging mode.
  • system may be configured to operate in a discharging mode.
  • system may be configured to actuate one of the at least one impurity removing component in the charging mode.
  • the system may be configured to regenerate one of the at least one impurity removing component in the discharging mode.
  • the system may be configured to recover one of the at least one impurity-removing component by means of pressure and/or temperature swing.
  • At least one of the at least one second fluid may be used at a pressure below the stream of a fluid whose temperature is controlled by one of the at least 2 thermal storage components, at the at least one heat exchanger component.
  • one of the thermal storage components may operate below or close to the condensation temperature of the fluid.
  • the second fluid being identical to the first is particularly advantageous, as it allows preventing a phase transition by reducing the pressure of the second fluid and shift its dew point to lower temperatures, outside the operating range. Furthermore, this approach reduces complexity of the storage as many of its component do not need to be withstanding high pressures.
  • At least one of the at least one second fluid may be used at a pressure above the stream of the fluid whose temperature is controlled by one of the at least 2 thermal storage components at the at least one heat exchanger component.
  • At least one of the at least one blower may be configured to: aid removal of thermal energy content from the stream of the fluid whose temperature is controlled by one of the at least 2 thermal storage components, and transport removed energy to the at least one storage component.
  • At least one of the at least one blower may be configured to: aid removal thermal energy content from the at least one storage component, and transport removed energy into the stream of the fluid whose temperature is controlled by one of the at least 2 thermal storage components.
  • the at least one blower may be configured to control the flow of at least one of the at least one second fluid separated from the at least one fluid.
  • the at least one auxiliary component may comprise at least one of: evaporator, motor generator, electrical driving component, control loop component, sensor, piping element, insulating component, valve element, blower, fan, silencer, filter, heat recovery component, and power supplying component.
  • the at least 2 pressure controlling components may comprise at least one non-isothermal compressor.
  • the system may comprise at least one of: electrical inverter, wire, transformer, electrical converter.
  • the expansion component may comprise at least one of: an expander and a throttle valve.
  • Expanders extract energy from the fluid during the process, which in addition to the temperature drop resulted from the expansion, it permits the extracted work dropping the enthalpy content of the fluid leading to even lower temperatures. This is particularly beneficial for having higher liquefaction yield. Throttling is an equal enthalpy process with no work done. Therefore, same expansion ratio, as in an expander, results in higher outlet temperature. However, throttling is a much less complex process.
  • the present invention exploits these two basic properties in different arrangements, as depicted in the figures below.
  • the at least one expander may comprise at least one of: turbo expander, volumetric expander, piston, screw, scroll.
  • the at least one fluid may comprise a liquid phase.
  • One of the at least one storage tank for cryogenic liquid may be configured to confine the liquid phase of one of the at least one fluid.
  • the one of the at least one storage tank for cryogenic liquid may be arranged in series to at least one of: at least one of the at least 2 pressure controlling components, at least one of the at least 2 thermal storage components, at least one of the at least one liquefaction module, and one of the at least one phase separator. Additionally or alternatively, one of the least one storage tank for cryogenic liquid may comprise at least one thermal insulation component.
  • the liquid fluid For discharging, the liquid fluid needs to be pressurized to the designated operating pressure. Pressurizing the liquid to a supercooled state with a pressure changing component, e.g., a pump, in series to the storage tank for cryogenic liquid while discharging creates the lowest temperature for an optimized cold recovery to aid the liquefaction in the next charging.
  • a pressure changing component e.g., a pump
  • One of the at least one storage tank for cryogenic liquid may comprise a pressure vessel. Additionally or alternatively, the pressure vessel may comprise a pressure between 1 and 37 bar, preferably between 5 and 30 bar, more preferably between 10 and 20 bar.
  • Storing at elevated pressure reduces evaporation losses while storing the liquid fluid (the density of the vapor and liquid phases in equilibrium are closer to each other at higher pressure, and limiting the upper pressure reduces complexity of the storage.
  • the pressure vessel may comprise a pressure above 37 bar, preferably above 40 bar, more preferably above 55 bar.
  • One of the at least one storage tank for cryogenic liquid may comprise a pressure controlling component. Pressurization of the liquid fluid for discharging can happen inside the cryo-tank, e.g., by using evaporation of a very small fraction of the liquid with ambient heat. This is particularly advantageous, as it reduces the energy consumption of the system.
  • the at least one heat exchanger component may be configured to perform evaporation of fluid within at least one of the at least one storage tank for cryogenic liquid.
  • the liquid storage can be pressurized in exchange with a heat storage. This prevents losing potential cold and increases the recovered cold and thus positively influences the next charging.
  • One of the at least one storage tank for cryogenic liquid may comprise at least one phase separator.
  • phase separator and cryogenic storage tank integrated as a single unit reduces the complexity, as it allows utilizing the same vessel. Moreover, this frees up some piping as a two-phase mixture can be transported in a single pipe.
  • One of the least one storage tank for cryogenic liquid may be configured to receive liquid.
  • One of the least one storage tank for cryogenic liquid may be configured to supply liquid.
  • One the least one storage tank for cryogenic liquid may be configured to increase the pressure of contained liquid.
  • the simplest implementation for pressurizing the liquid fluid is by autopressurizing the storage with or without additional equipment.
  • One of the at least one storage tank for cryogenic liquid may be configured to maintain temperature and pressure of contained liquid.
  • One of the at least 2 pressure controlling components may be arranged in series to one of the at least one storage tank for cryogenic liquid.
  • At least one of the at least 2 pressure controlling components may be configured to change a pressure in at least one stage.
  • At one of the at least 2 pressure controlling components may be configured to change the pressure in at least 2 stages.
  • At least one component of one the at least 2 pressure controlling components may be configured to change the pressure in at least one stage. At least one of the at least one fluid undergoes a total pressure rises of at least 20 bars, preferably at least 30 bars, more preferably at least 40 bars, most preferably at least 55 bars.
  • the at least one of the at least one fluid may undergo a total pressure rise of less than 300 bars, preferably less than 150 bars, most preferably less than 100 bars, most preferably less than 70 bars.
  • the at least one fluid undergoes a total pressure drop of at least 20 bars, preferably at least 30 bars, more preferably at least 40 bars, most preferably at least 60 bars. Additionally or alternatively, the at least one fluid may undergo a total pressure drop of less than 300 bars, preferably less than 150 bars, most preferably less than 100 bars, most preferably less than 70 bars.
  • One way to create liquid utilized by the liquefaction module is to reduce the pressure of the fluid by expansion. Expanding from higher pressure results in lower temperature aiding the higher liquid yield. However, heat capacity of the fluid is also rising by increasing the pressure, which adversely influences the liquid yield.
  • the present invention takes into account the increased technical complexity for higher pressures and overall efficiency, which leads to an optimum of pressure of around 60 bar for the operational pressure. This is for the stream entering the liquefaction module.
  • At least one of the at least 2 pressure controlling components may be configured to yield an outlet temperature T o , wherein the outlet temperature T o may be different from inlet temperature . Additionally or alternatively, the outlet temperature T o may be at least 100 K above the inlet temperature T iz preferably at least 150 K above the inlet temperature T iz more preferably at least 200 K above the inlet temperature .
  • Compression stages outlet temperature are predominantly determined by the efficiency of the compressors and the level of internal cooling within them. Maximizing the round-trip efficiency depends upon having the maximum possible energy consumed in the compression stages present in the fluid as an elevated pressure and temperature. Thus, a higher temperature as close as possible to an adiabatic compression is beneficial. For readily available compressors a temperature rise of around 200 K is achievable. The most desirable solution regarding efficiency is to reach the maximum desired operating pressure in a single compression stage. As the resulted outlet temperature in that case would be enormous high (>1000 K), and the technical implementation of a compressor with a compression ratio above 15 is at least challenging, this option is hard to achieve.
  • the outlet temperature T o may be at most 1500 K above the inlet temperature T iz preferably at most 900 K above the inlet temperature T iz more preferably at most 500 K above the inlet temperature .
  • the outlet temperature T o may be at least 20 K below the inlet temperature T iz preferably at least 50 K below the inlet temperature T iz more preferably at least 80 K below the inlet temperature .
  • the outlet temperature T o may be at most 800 K below the inlet temperature T iz preferably at most 500 K below the inlet temperature T iz more preferably at most 300 K below the inlet temperature .
  • the at least one of the at least 2 pressure controlling components may be configured to operate at polytropic efficiencies greater than 40%, preferably greater than 60%, more preferably greater than 80%.
  • a high polytropic efficiency ensures lower internal losses in the compression stage, and highly contributes to the overall efficiency.
  • system may be configured to expand the at least one fluid.
  • At least one of the at least 2 pressure controlling components may be connected to one of: at least one electrical driving component.
  • the system may be configured to generate and/or consume mechanical energy.
  • the system may be configured to generate and/or consume electrical energy.
  • system may be configured to operate at least one of the at least 2 pressure controlling components by means of generated and/or consumed energy.
  • system may be configured to operate in the discharging mode to generate energy.
  • the system may be configured to operate in the charging mode by means of consuming energy.
  • the charging mode may be configured to consume energy to store heat and yield at least partially a liquid phase of at least one of the at least one fluid.
  • the charging mode may be configured to consume energy to yield at least partially a liquid phase of at least one of the at least one fluid by changing pressure and enthalpy of at least one of the at least one fluid.
  • the discharging mode may be configured to consume heat and liquid to generate energy. Additionally or alternatively, the discharging mode may be configured to change pressure and enthalpy of at least one of the at least one fluid to generate energy.
  • the system may be configured to exchange thermal energy between at least one of the at least one fluid and at least one of the at least 2 thermal storage components while evaporating the liquid phase of the at least one fluid.
  • Evaporating a liquid requires a supply of heat to overcome the enthalpy of evaporation. If this heat is supplied by a medium, that medium gets cooler.
  • the present invention utilizes this fact to store "cold" during the evaporation of the liquid. Evaporating liquid absorbs the heat from the second fluid via a heat exchanger, and now the colder second fluid is in communication with thermal storage component afterward. Through this communication the thermal storage component heats the second fluid back up, while itself it getting cold. With this arrangement the heat of evaporation needed for the phase change of the liquid is essentially provided by the thermal storage component, and consequently, it gets colder, in other words, it can be stated that "the cold is stored”. The temperature at which this cold is stored can be controlled through system variables.
  • this temperature is as low as possible, which enable the access to the maximum cooling capacity when needed.
  • This cooling capacity is used is when the first fluid, or a portion of it, is communicating with thermal storage components to be pre-cooled before sending to the liquefaction module. This arrangement is particularly advantageous in thermal energy management between the charging and discharging modes of the system.
  • the system may be configured to retain a system state by maintaining thermal and mechanical potentials. Additionally or alternatively, the at least one of the at least 2 pressure controlling components may be configured to operate reversibly at polytropic efficiencies greater than 40%, preferably greater than 60%, more preferably greater than 80%. Additionally or alternatively, the system may comprise a connection type comprising at least one of: belt, gearbox, and direct connection of shaft.
  • the at least one of the at least one electrical driving component may comprise a type of at least one of: induction, permanent magnet, reluctance, synchronous, and asynchronous.
  • the at least one motor may be configured to operate at variable rotational speeds.
  • the at least one motor may be configured to operate at variable frequencies.
  • At least one of the at least electrical driving component may be connected to at least one of the at least one of: electrical inverter, wire, transformer, electrical converter.
  • the system may comprise at least one valve.
  • the at least one valve may be comprised by at least one of: pressure changing component, thermal storage component, liquefaction module, pump, phase separator, tank for cryogenic liquid, impurities removal component.
  • One of the at least one valves may be configured to operate bidirectionally.
  • the at least one valve may comprise at least one of: a check valve, a flow control valve, a shut-off valve, a throttle valve, a safety valve such as pressure relief valve, and a sampling valve.
  • the at least one valve may comprise at least one actuation mechanism.
  • At least one of the at least one actuation mechanism may be configured to automatically actuate the at least one valve.
  • the at least one valve may comprise at least one of: pressure changing component, thermal storage component, liquefaction module, pump, phase separator, storage tank for cryogenic liquid, impurities removal component may be connected to at least one valve.
  • the at least one control loop may be configured to control at least one of the at least one actuation mechanism.
  • the at least one control loop may be configured to control one of the at least one electrical driving component.
  • At least one of the at least one pressure relief valve may be connected to at least one of: storage tank, at least one of the at least 2 thermal storage components.
  • At least one of the at least 2 pressure controlling components may comprise at least one of: volumetric compressor, dynamic compressor.
  • At least one of the at least 2 pressure controlling components may comprise at least one of: piston compressor, scroll compressor, screw compressor, vane compressor, roots compressor.
  • At least one of the at least one liquefaction module may be configured to be in fluid communication with at least one of the at least 2 thermal storage components.
  • At least one of the at least one liquefaction module may be configured to be in fluid communication with at least one of the at least one phase separator. Moreover, at least one of the at least one liquefaction module may comprise at least one of the at least 2 pressure controlling components.
  • At least one of the at least one liquefaction module may comprise at least one heat exchanger component.
  • At least one heat exchanger component may comprise at least one of: plate-fin heat exchanger, plate heat exchanger, shell and tube heat exchanger, and regenerative heat exchanger.
  • the splitting element may be configured to split a fluid flow at variable split ratios.
  • One of the at least one splitting element may be configured to vary the split ratio between one of the at least 2 thermal storage components and one of the at least one liquefaction module.
  • One of the at least one splitting element may be configured to adjust the splitting ratio to balance the amount of thermal energy content transferred to one of the at least 2 thermal storage components with the thermal energy content available from a liquid phase yielded.
  • the splitting element enables the variation of the ratio of the entire fluid sent to the liquefaction module and the thermal storage components operating at temperatures below ambient temperature, which is advantageous, as it makes the use of liquefaction module independent of the thermal storage components. Furthermore, the portion of the first fluid entering the thermal storage section, and thus the consumption of cold, can be optimized and adapted to the need of the liquefaction module. This is especially advantageous since the cooling capacity of the thermal storage components and the temperature level which could be achieved might vary depending, for instance, but not limited to, on how they are used, how much losses are involved. As a result, only a portion of the fluid is pre-cooled in the liquefaction module and cold from the expansion can be used more efficiently to increase the yield. All this results in a higher overall efficiency of the system of the present invention.
  • the system may comprise at least one merging element configured to merge at least 2 fluid flows.
  • the merging element is particularly advantageous, as it allows combining the portions of the fluid which might have been split, and then sent them to downstream components of the system for further processing.
  • the stream after the merging element would naturally have a single set of thermodynamic properties, and could share the same for instance, but not limited to, expansion component, heat exchangers. This is further depicted in the figures below.
  • At least one of the at least one liquefaction module may comprise at least one of the at least one splitting element configured to split the fluid flow at variable split ratios. At least one of the at least one liquefaction module may comprise at least one of the at least one merging element.
  • At least one of the at least one liquefaction module may comprise at least one of the at least 2 thermal storage components.
  • At least one of the at least one liquefaction module may comprise at least one of the one fluid output elements.
  • At least one of the at least one liquefaction module may comprise at least one of the one fluid input elements.
  • At least one of the at least one liquefaction module may comprise at least one insulating component.
  • At least one of the at least one liquefaction module may comprise at least one auxiliary component.
  • At least one of the least one heat exchanger component may be configured to receive at least one stream of fluid from at least one of the at least one splitting elements.
  • One of the at least one liquefaction module may be configured to reduce the thermal energy content of the at least one fluid.
  • One of the at least one liquefaction module may be configured to exhaust at least a part of the at least one fluid close to its thermal and mechanical equilibrium with ambient air. This is particularly advantageous, as it ensures that both the entire cooling capacity and doing work potential (due to having pressure higher than atmospheric pressure) is exploited before exhausting or feeding back this gas stream.
  • Each gas stream that is recycled is first expanded to the lowest pressure (ensuring lowest temperature is obtained). It is then used as a cooling stream in a heat exchanger component.
  • the heat exchangers and their arrangement are optimized, as exemplified by the configurations depicted in the figures below. This decreases cold losses and increases the liquid yield and efficiency.
  • One of the at least one liquefaction module may be configured to reduce the thermal energy content of at least portions of the at least one fluid by means of a different portion of the at least one fluid at lower temperature levels.
  • the at least one liquefaction module is supplied with at least one of the at least one fluid at ambient temperature and elevated pressure, and with at least a portion of the at least one of the at least one fluid, which is at a reduced thermal energy content and an intermediate pressure, wherein the thermal energy content of the portion of the at least one of the at least one fluid is first reduced solely by means of the liquefaction module, wherein the at least one liquefaction module is configured to yield at least partially a liquid phase from the one of the at least one fluid.
  • liquid module is used independent from the cold storages, which might not be charged with cooling capacity.
  • This arrangement can be used as the only liquefaction path, if needed.
  • it is particularly advantageous, as it allows producing and accumulating enough liquid that could be used for initial charging of the cold storages in a process similar to a normal discharge operation, which enables the system to be self-sufficient and not needing any external means for priming/charging the cold storages with cooling capacity that is required for the predetermined duration of a normal charging mode operation.
  • this makes the system location independent (since it is self-sufficient). It also reduces the complexity of the implementation procedure and to refill lost cold if needed.
  • One the at least one liquefaction module may be configured to decrease the pressure of the at least one fluid to decrease the thermal energy content of the at least one fluid.
  • One of the at least one liquefaction module may be configured to yield at least partially a liquid phase from the at least one fluid, wherein the one of the at least one liquefaction module may be arranged in series to at least one of at least one of: at least 2 pressure controlling components, at least one of at least 2 thermal storage components, one of the at least one storage tank for cryogenic liquid, and at least one of the at least one phase separator.
  • At least one component of at least one of the at least one liquefaction module may be configured to yield at least partially a liquid phase from the at least one fluid in parallel to at least one of the at least 2 thermal storage components. At least one of the least one heat exchanger component and at least one of the at least 2 thermal storage components receive a fluid flow from at least one of the at least one splitting element in series.
  • At least one stream of fluid of the at least one heat exchanger component merges with another stream of fluid in series with at least one of the at least 2 pressure controlling components.
  • a portion of the fluid which has already been pre-cooled using the cooling capacity of the thermal storage components is merged with another portion of the fluid at ambient temperature.
  • the temperature of the stream being pre-cooled through a thermal storage component can be controlled considering the cooling capacity (or duty) available in the corresponding thermal storage component. Mixing this stream with another stream at ambient temperature provides the system with another flexibility through which the temperature of the merged stream is adjusted to a level required by the pressure controlling component downstream.
  • the cooling load on each thermal storage component is adjustable by this method. Put differently, based on the cooling capacity available in each of those storages (which are determined by the amount of storage regeneration during the discharge mode) the system is capable of readjusting itself to use that cooling capacity. Readjusting based on available cooling capacity and the split ratio upstream is also used to ensure a continuous heat flow required in the heat exchangers downstream avoiding a pinch point within the exchangers.
  • the at least one liquefaction module may comprise at least 2 of the at least 2 pressure controlling components arranged in series.
  • At least one of the at least 2 pressure controlling components are arranged in parallel to at least one of the at least one heat exchanger component.
  • At least one of the at least 2 pressure controlling components are arranged in series to at least one of the at least one heat exchanger component.
  • the first expansion operation leads to partial liquefaction in the liquefaction module.
  • the gas phase of that resulted stream, in equilibrium with the liquid phase, is still at elevated pressure. Therefore, expanding it again to lowest possible pressure results in a stream with maximum cooling capacity.
  • a heat exchanger can be added before or after the first expansion. Since expanders usually cannot have liquid phase in their inlet, the fluid temperature is limited to the dew point of the fluid at the given pressure. Adding the heat exchanger after the expander, where partial liquefaction has already happened, utilizes the lowest temperature available in the liquefaction module to increase the liquid yield. If throttling is used instead of an expander, heat exchanger can be added before the component. This is beneficial as the expansion at lower temperature increases the yield.
  • At least one of the at least 2 pressure controlling components are arranged in parallel to at least one of the at least one heat exchanger component. Additionally or alternatively, at least one of the at least 2 pressure controlling components may be arranged in series in between 2 of the at least 2 heat exchanger components.
  • At least one of the at least 2 pressure controlling components may be configured to receive at least one stream of fluid from at least one of the at least one splitting elements.
  • the at least one stream of fluid may be supplied by at least one of the at least one heat exchanger component. Additionally or alternatively, the at least one stream of fluid may be supplied by another of at least one of the at least 2 pressure controlling components.
  • At least one of the at least 2 pressure changing components may be in series to at least one of the at least one heat exchanger component.
  • one of the at least 2 thermal storage components may be arranged in between one of the at least 2 pressure controlling components and one of the at least one heat exchangers.
  • the at least one liquefaction module may be configured to yield at least 20 mass percent, more preferably at least 30 mass percent most preferable at least 40 mass percent liquid phase.
  • the at least one liquefaction module may be configured to yield at least partially a liquid phase from the at least one fluid at a pressure below 25 bar, more preferably below 20 bar, most preferably below 18 bar.
  • the at least one liquefaction module may be configured to yield at least partially a liquid phase from the at least one fluid at a pressure above 3 bar, more preferably above 5 bar, most preferably above 10 bar.
  • One of the core advantages of the present invention is to utilize elevated pressure to increase the yield. Liquefaction taking place at elevated pressures has some benefits. For example, liquid yield can be higher if liquefaction happens at higher pressures as lower enthalpy change (less liquefaction effort) is needed for the phase transition as the fluid is approaching the critical pressure. In case of air, for example, there is no phase transition to liquid at pressures higher than ⁇ 37.8 bar (critical pressure). On the other hand, the density of the gas and liquid phases in equilibrium at higher pressures are closer to each other. That means addition of a given volume of liquid to a storage tank already filled with gas at the same pressure results in losing more mass (the mass of the gas to be replaced by entering liquid) at higher pressures. Therefore, intermediate pressures are favorable to both benefit from the lower enthalpy change needed for the liquefaction at higher pressure and avoid high mass losses of the cold gas already existing in the tank during refilling.
  • the at least one liquefaction module may be configured to decrease the pressure to close to the atmospheric pressure to reduce thermal energy content of the at least one fluid.
  • the at least one liquefaction module may be configured to increase the liquid yield by means of thermal energy management.
  • the at least one liquefaction module may be configured to yield at least partially a liquid phase from at least one of the at least one fluid by means of at least one expansion.
  • the at least one liquefaction module may be configured to increase the liquid yield from at least one of the at least one fluid by means of a second expansion and at least one heat exchanger component aiding thermal energy management.
  • the at least one liquefaction module may be configured to increase the liquid yield by means of the second expansion.
  • the gas phase of at least one of the at least one fluid may be used for the second expansion.
  • the at least one liquefaction module achieves temperatures below the dew point of the at least one fluid at given pressure.
  • the at least one liquefaction module may be configured to receive a stream of fluid from at least one of the at least one splitting element with a ratio below 80 mass percent, more preferably below 65 mass percent, most preferably below 55 mass percent in proportion to the amount of fluid entering the splitting element.
  • system may be configured to reduce thermal energy content of at least one of the at least one fluid.
  • system may be configured to reduce the temperature of at least one components of the system by means of the at least one fluid.
  • system may be configured to achieve a targeted operating temperature of components by means of at least one of the at least one fluid.
  • the system may be configured to reduce the temperature of the at least one of the at least one fluid to the temperature level sufficient to cool at least one of the at least 2 thermal storage components.
  • the system may comprise at least 2 of the at least 2 pressure controlling components and at least one heat exchanger component and at least one splitting element. At least one of the at least 2 pressure controlling components may be in series to at least one of the at least one heat exchangers.
  • At least one of the at least 2 pressure controlling components and at least one of the at least one heat exchangers receive at least one stream of fluid in parallel from the at least one of the at least one splitting element.
  • the system may be configured to actuate at least 2 of the at least 2 pressure controlling components and at least one of the at least one heat exchangers to control the temperature of the at least one fluid at/close to at least one temperature constraint condition.
  • system may be configured to actuate at least 2 of the at least 2 pressure controlling components and at least one heat exchanger component to control the temperature of the at least one fluid at a temperature above its phase transition temperature at the given pressure.
  • the potential of regenerating the required cooling capacity in relevant thermal storage components is realized. That means, instead of regenerating the thermal storage components only through evaporation of the liquid in the discharge mode, with this arrangement regeneration is possible whenever and to whatever extent needed. There is no need for liquefaction with this arrangement. A portion of a high-pressure stream is expanded to a lower pressure resulting in a colder stream which is used to pre-cool the remaining portion of that stream. The latter portion is then expanded to a level which ensures the desired temperature in the outlet is achieved. This temperature is dictated by the lowest temperature needed in the thermal storage components to be regenerated and/or recharged.
  • This arrangement has the advantage of not needing to change the operation mode of the system. In other words, regeneration of the thermal storage components and charging them with cooling capacity needed for the next charging mode can take place as a continuation of the current charging stage. This is particularly advantageous, as it allows regenerating the thermal storage components with the cooling capacity needed for a shorter operation time compared to the approach in which liquefaction is necessary, which then is followed by a discharge mode.
  • the other advantages are less complexity and more control over the thermal storage regeneration, having the system location agnostic, and making the system more suitable for use-cases where it is additionally, used as a backup energy storage.
  • thermodynamics processes are usually designed according to the conventional large plantsize mindset. That could be seen in, for example, some prior arts where principles of air separation plants are adapted as storages based on air liquefaction.
  • the present invention focuses on a lean design where the units are designed and sized having easy transportation and portability in mind.
  • the present invention is based on using thermodynamics principles in combination with abundantly available resources as thermal energy storage media.
  • the present system is essentially designed to only use air as working fluid, and gravel as thermal energy storage media. However, it has the capability of being adapted into other working fluids and materials, if needed.
  • the present invention is designed to be modular.
  • multiple thermal storage components, pressure changing components and liquefaction modules can be combined with different arrangements making the power intake and storage capacity scalable independently based on the requirements of the use-case.
  • Another advantageous feature of the present invention is the capability of using some system's components in different operating modes; for example, the compressors are intended to be used reversibly as expander during the charging mode, and heat exchangers are designed to be functioning at several situations. This is beneficial for reducing the complexity and increasing the flexibility of the system.
  • the present invention relates to a method for storing energy, the method comprising: inputting at least one at least one fluid to an energy storage system, controlling a temperature of the at least one fluid, performing at least one pressure change, yielding at least partially a liquid phase from at least one of the at least one fluid, and storing thermal energy.
  • the energy storage system may be recited herein.
  • the method may comprise evaporating at least a portion of at least one of the at least one fluid.
  • the method may comprise condensing at least a portion of at least one of the at least one fluid.
  • the method may comprise controlling the at least one fluid at least one flow direction, wherein the method may comprise reversing at least one of the at least one flow direction.
  • the method may comprise exhausting at least one of the at least one fluid. Moreover, the method may comprise feeding back to the system at least a portion of at least one of the at least one fluid. Feeding back the fluid has several advantages to the process. It has to be used to recycle the gas stream after partial liquefaction back to the liquefaction module to extract heat on the low temperature level required for liquefaction. After utilizing the maximum possible cooling capacity of the fed-back stream, it can also be used to as a partial feed the system. This enables lower energy consumption in the drying process as this stream may be already dry. Another use may be to feed the fluid to possible existing secondary cycles to make use of the dry stream and adjust pressure levels without the need of an additional feed.
  • the method may comprise controlling the temperature of at least one of the at least one fluid in the energy storage system as recited herein. In another embodiment, the method may comprise controlling the temperature of the at least one fluid before a first pressure controlling component. Additionally or alternatively, the method may comprise controlling the temperature of the at least one fluid before a second pressure controlling component.
  • the method may comprise controlling the temperature of the at least one fluid after the first pressure controlling component. In one embodiment, the method may comprise controlling the temperature of the at least one fluid after the second pressure controlling component. Removing excess heat after compressing the fluid and before entering either cold storages or liquefaction modules prevents unnecessary depletion of "cold" (cold being the lower energy level heat or the thermal reservoirs below ambient temperature) from these parts of the system.
  • the method may comprise splitting a flow of the at least one fluid.
  • the one of the at least 2 thermal storage components may be arranged in series to at least one of the at least one liquefaction module.
  • the method may comprise controlling the temperature of the at least one fluid before one of the at least one liquefaction module.
  • the method may comprise controlling the temperature of the at least one fluid after one of the at least one liquefaction module.
  • the method may comprise controlling the temperature of the at least one fluid arranged in parallel to at least one component of at least one of the at least one liquefaction module.
  • the method may comprise storing at least one of the at least one fluid in the energy storage system.
  • the method may comprise confining at least one of the at least one fluid in at least one of at least one storage tank for cryogenic liquid.
  • the method may comprise controlling the temperature and pressure of the at least one fluid in at least one of at least one storage tank for cryogenic liquid.
  • the method may comprise controlling the temperature of the at least one fluid after the splitting step.
  • the method may comprise controlling the temperature of the at least one fluid at at least 2 positions in the energy storage system.
  • a thermal storage component with several heat exchangers or storages can be implemented at multiple locations simultaneously. This can reduce the complexity and losses of the system, as only one thermal storage component can be used, e.g., to store compression heat for several compression stages. Furthermore, this allows to optimize the heat usage - and thus the efficiency of the system - between different operational modes, e.g., storing the heat at higher temperature levels after two consecutive compression stages while charging the system, and increasing the temperature of the fluid (thus higher enthalpy) before each expansion stage while discharging.
  • the method may comprise controlling the temperature of the at least one fluid after the first controlling pressure component, controlling the temperature of the at least one fluid after the second pressure controlling component, and controlling the temperature of the at least one fluid parallel to at least one component of at least one of the at least one liquefaction module.
  • the method may comprise compressing at least one of the at least one fluid.
  • the method may comprise controlling the flow of the at least one fluid.
  • the method may comprise generating and/or consuming mechanical energy.
  • the method may comprise expanding and/or compressing at least one of the at least one fluid.
  • the method may comprise reversibly operating at least one of the at least 2 pressure controlling components.
  • the method may comprise reversibly operating a compressor.
  • the method may comprise controlling the pressure, wherein at least one of the at least 2 pressure controlling components may be arranged in series to at least one of: at least one of at least one fluid input element, at least one of at least one liquefaction module, at least one of at least one fluid output element, at least one of at least 2 thermal storage components, at least one of at least 2 pressure controlling components.
  • the method may comprise controlling the pressure, wherein one of the at least 2 pressure controlling components may be arranged in parallel to at least one of the at least 2 pressure controlling components.
  • the method may comprise heating the at least one fluid.
  • the method may comprise changing the thermal energy content of the at least one fluid.
  • the method may comprise separating a liquid phase and/or a gas phase from the at least one fluid.
  • the at least one fluid comprising at least one of: air, nitrogen, helium, hydrogen, argon, methane, carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide, oxygen, water, or any combination thereof.
  • the method may comprise using at least one cryogenic liquid comprising at least one of: air, nitrogen, helium, hydrogen, argon, methane, carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide, oxygen, water or any combination thereof.
  • the method may comprise compressing at least one of the at least one fluid to a pressure above a critical pressure.
  • the method may comprise removing impurities from the at least one fluid.
  • the method may comprise removing moisture to reach to a dew point of at least 263 K, more preferably 243 K, most preferably 223 K.
  • the method may comprise removing impurities by means of the at least one impurity removing component arranged in series to at least one of: at least one of at least 2 pressure controlling components, at least one of at least 2 thermal storage components, at least one of the at least one liquefaction module, one of the at least one phase separator, at least one of at least one pump, and at least one of at least one storage tank for cryogenic liquid.
  • the method may comprise removing impurities immediately after one of the at least one fluid input elements.
  • the method may comprise removing impurities before the first pressure controlling component and/or before the second pressure controlling component.
  • the method may comprise actuating at least one impurity removing component after the first pressure controlling component and/or after the second pressure controlling component.
  • the method may comprise actuating the at least one impurity removing component after and/or before at least one of the at least 2 thermal storage components.
  • the method may comprise storing heat in at least one of the at least 2 thermal storage components with direct heat exchange.
  • the at least one fluid may comprise at least one first fluid and at least one second fluid.
  • the at least one first fluid may be not in direct contact to the at least one second fluid.
  • the method may comprise storing thermal energy in at least one of the at least 2 thermal storage components, wherein the method may comprise utilizing the at least one second fluid.
  • At least one of the at least one first fluid and at least one of the at least one second fluid may be identical. In another embodiment, at least one of the at least one first fluid may be different from at least one of the at least one second fluid.
  • the method may comprise controlling the flow at least one of the at least one second fluid.
  • the method may comprise controlling the thermal energy content of the at least one fluid.
  • the method may comprise controlling the thermal energy content when the system is as recited herein.
  • the method may comprise operating a direct heat exchange and/or an indirect heat exchange.
  • the method may comprise storing thermal energy by means of the at least one second fluid, wherein the at least one second fluid may comprise at least one of: gas, liquid, suspension, suspension comprising a phase changing material or any combination thereof.
  • the method may comprise transferring thermal energy to/from the at least one storage with direct heat exchange by means of at least one second fluid.
  • the method may comprise storing compression heat in at least one of the at least 2 thermal storage components.
  • the method may comprise utilizing elevated pressure.
  • the method may comprise operating at least one components of the system at pressures greater than 1 bar, preferably greater than 10 bar, more preferably greater than 40 bar, most preferably greater than 50 bars.
  • the method may comprise operating at least one component of the system at pressures lower than 300 bar, preferably lower than 250 bar, more preferably lower than 200 bar.
  • the method may comprise storing heat at temperatures above surrounding ambient temperature.
  • the method may comprise storing heat at temperatures below surrounding ambient temperature.
  • the method may comprise controlling the temperature of the at least one fluid at temperatures above surrounding ambient temperature.
  • the method may comprise controlling the temperature of the at least one fluid at temperatures below surrounding ambient temperature.
  • the method may comprise controlling the temperature of the at least one fluid at or close to at least one temperature constraint condition.
  • the at least one temperature constraint condition may comprise at least one of: a maximum temperature, wherein the maximum temperature may be determined by the temperature of the at least one fluid after compression, a minimum temperature of one of the at least one fluid in interaction with at least one of the at least 2 thermal storage components, a minimum temperature of the liquid phase of at least one of the at least one fluid, a temperature requirement of a component of the energy storage system downstream of another component of the energy storage, a phase transition temperature of the at least one fluid with respect to its pressure level, a phase transition temperature of the at least one second fluid with respect to its pressure level, a common intermediate temperature of one of the at least one fluid between two consecutive thermal storage components, wherein the shared intermediate temperature may be determined to ensure that the two consecutive thermal storage components reach to a same internal temperature distribution before and after each consecutive charging and discharging of the energy storage system for the same time period, a temperature constraint determined to ensure a continuous heat flow between at least 2 media exchanging heat, wherein the continuous heat flow occurs along the length of a component of the energy storing with
  • the method may comprise matching temperature constraint conditions of at least 2 thermal storage components.
  • the method may comprise operating 2 consecutive thermal storage components of the at least 2 thermal storage components at matched temperature constraint conditions.
  • the method may comprise extracting the stored thermal energy from at least one of the at least 2 thermal storage components.
  • the method may comprise balancing extracted and stored thermal energy within at least one of the at least 2 thermal storage components.
  • the method may comprise at least partially changing the phase of at least one of the at least one fluid in at least one of the at least 2 thermal storage components.
  • the method may comprise at least partially evaporating the at least one fluid in one of at least one heat exchanger component comprised by the energy storing system.
  • the method may comprise using at least one heater to at least partially changing the phase of a fluid.
  • the method may comprise using at least one electrical driving component.
  • the method may comprise controlling the energy storage system by means of at least one of: control component, control loop, and control system.
  • the method may comprise operating the system in a charging mode.
  • the method may comprise operating the system in a discharging mode.
  • the method may comprise actuating one of the at least one impurity removing component while the system may be in the charging mode.
  • the method may comprise regenerating one of the at least one impurity removing component while the system may be in the discharging mode.
  • the method may comprise recovering one of the at least one impurity-removing component by means of pressure and/or temperature swing.
  • the method may comprise using at least one of the at least one second fluid at a pressure below a stream pressure of the fluid whose temperature is controlled, at the at least one heat exchanger component.
  • the method may comprise using at least one of the at least one second fluid at a pressure above the stream of the fluid whose temperature is controlled, pressure at the at least one heat exchanger component.
  • the method may comprise, by means of at least one blower: aiding removal of thermal energy content from the stream of the fluid whose temperature is controlled, and transporting removed energy to the at least one storage component.
  • the method may comprise, by means of at least one of the at least one blower: aiding removal thermal energy content from the at least one storage component, and transporting removed energy into the stream of the fluid whose temperature is controlled.
  • the method may comprise controlling the flow of at least one of the at least one second fluid separated from the at least one fluid.
  • the at least one fluid may comprise a liquid phase.
  • the method may comprise confining the liquid phase of one of the at least one fluid in one of the at least one storage tank for cryogenic liquid.
  • the one of the at least one storage tank for cryogenic liquid may be arranged in series to at least one of: at least one of the at least 2 pressure controlling components, at least one of the at least 2 thermal storage components, at least one of the at least one liquefaction module, and one of the at least one phase separator.
  • One of the at least one storage tank for cryogenic liquid may comprise a pressure vessel.
  • the pressure vessel may comprise a pressure between 1 and 37 bar, preferably between 5 and 30 bar, more preferably between 10 and 20 bar.
  • the pressure vessel may comprise a pressure above 37 bar, preferably above 40 bar, more preferably above 55 bar.
  • One of the at least one storage tank for cryogenic liquid may comprise a pressure controlling component.
  • the method may comprise evaporating fluid within at least one of the at least one storage tank for cryogenic liquid.
  • the method may comprise at least partially separating a liquid phase and/or gas phase of at least one of the at least one fluid inside the storage tank for cryogenic liquids.
  • the method may comprise supplying liquid by means of one of the least one storage tank for cryogenic liquid.
  • the method may comprise increasing the pressure of liquid in one of the least one storage tank for cryogenic liquid.
  • the method may comprise maintaining the temperature and pressure of liquid contained in one of the at least one storage tank for cryogenic liquid.
  • the method may comprise changing a pressure in at least one stage.
  • the method may comprise changing the pressure in at least 2 stages.
  • the at least one fluid may undergo a total pressure rise of at least 20 bars, preferably at least 30 bars, more preferably at least 40 bars, most preferably at least 55 bars.
  • the at least one fluid may undergo a total pressure rise of less than 300 bars, preferably less than 150 bars, most preferably less than 100 bars, most preferably less than 70 bars.
  • the at least one fluid may undergo a total pressure drop of at least 20 bars, preferably at least 30 bars, more preferably at least 40 bars, most preferably at least 60 bars.
  • the at least one fluid may undergo a total pressure drop of less than 300 bars, preferably less than 150 bars, most preferably less than 100 bars, most preferably less than 70 bars.
  • the method may comprise changing a temperature of at least one of the at least one fluid from an inlet temperature to outlet temperature T o , wherein the outlet temperature T o may be different from inlet temperature .
  • the outlet temperature T o may be at least 100 K above the inlet temperature T iz preferably at least 150 K above the inlet temperature T iz more preferably at least 200 K above the inlet temperature .
  • the outlet temperature T o may be at most 1500 K above the inlet temperature T iz preferably at most 900 K above the inlet temperature T iz more preferably at most 500 K above the inlet temperature .
  • the outlet temperature T o may be at least 20 K below the inlet temperature T, preferably at least 50 K below the inlet temperature T iz more preferably at least 80 K below the inlet temperature .
  • the outlet temperature To may be at most 800 K below the inlet temperature Ti, preferably at most 500 K below the inlet temperature Ti, more preferably at most 300 K below the inlet temperature Ti.
  • the method may comprise operating at least one component of the system at polytropic efficiencies greater than 40%, preferably greater than 60%, more preferably greater than 80%.
  • the method may comprise expanding the at least one fluid.
  • the method may comprise generating and/or consuming mechanical energy in the energy storage system.
  • the method may comprise generating and/or consuming electrical energy.
  • the method may comprise operating at least one of the at least 2 pressure controlling components by means of generated and/or consumed energy.
  • the method may comprise operating the system in the discharging mode to generate energy.
  • the method may comprise operating the system in the charging mode by means of consuming energy.
  • the charging mode may comprise consuming energy to store heat and yield at least partially a liquid phase of at least one of the at least one fluid.
  • the charging mode may comprise consuming energy to yield at least partially a liquid phase of at least one of the at least one fluid by changing pressure and enthalpy of at least one of the at least one fluid.
  • the method may comprise consuming heat and liquid to generate energy while the system may be in the discharging mode.
  • the method may comprise changing pressure and enthalpy of at least one of the at least one fluid to generate energy while the system may be in the discharging mode.
  • the method may comprise exchanging thermal energy between at least one of the at least one fluid and at least one of the at least 2 thermal storage components while evaporating the liquid phase of the at least one fluid.
  • the method may comprise retaining a system state by maintaining thermal and mechanical potentials.
  • the method may comprise reversibly operating at least one of the at least 2 pressure controlling components at polytropic efficiencies greater than 40%, preferably greater than 60%, more preferably greater than 80%.
  • the method may comprise operating at least one motor at variable rotational speeds.
  • the method may comprise operating at least one motor comprising at variable frequencies.
  • the method may comprise bidirectional operating at least one valves.
  • the method may comprise automatically actuating the at least one valve by means of at least one actuation mechanism.
  • the at least one valve may comprise at least one actuation mechanism.
  • the method may comprise automatically actuating the at least one valve via at least one of the at least one actuation mechanism.
  • the method may comprise establishing at least one fluid connection between at least 2 components of the system.
  • the method may comprise establishing at least one of the at least one fluid connection between at least one of the at least one liquefaction module with at least one of the at least 2 thermal storage components.
  • the method may comprise establishing at least one of the at least one fluid connection between at least one of the at least one liquefaction module with at least one of the at least one phase separator.
  • At least one of the at least one liquefaction module may comprise at least one of the at least 2 pressure controlling components of the energy storage system.
  • At least one of the at least one liquefaction module may comprise at least one heat exchanger component.
  • the method may comprise at least one splitting of at least one fluid flow at variable split ratios.
  • the method may comprise varying the splitting ratio of the fluid flow between one of the at least 2 thermal storage components and one of the at least one liquefaction module.
  • the method may comprise adjusting the splitting ratio to balance the amount of thermal energy content transferred to one of the at least 2 thermal storage components with the thermal energy content available from a liquid phase yielded.
  • the method may comprise merging at least 2 fluid flows.
  • the method may comprise at least one splitting of at least one of the at least one fluid flow of at least one of the at least one fluid in at least one of at least one liquefaction module.
  • the stream which is getting split inside the liquefaction module is not the same stream that was directly sent to the liquefactioh module after the external split; but it is the stream that was sent to, for instance, thermal store 2 (see figures 1-6 below) first and then sent to the liquefactioh module.
  • the method may comprise merging the at least 2 fluid flows in at least one of at least one liquefaction module.
  • the method may comprise storing heat inside the at least one liquefaction module.
  • the method may comprise removing fluid from the at least one of the at least one liquefaction module.
  • the method may comprise adding fluid to the at least one of the at least one liquefaction module.
  • the method may comprise delivering at least one stream of fluid to at least one of the least one heat exchanger component from at least one of the at least one splitting elements.
  • the method reducing the thermal energy content of the at least one fluid.
  • the method may comprise exhausting at least a part of the at least one fluid close to its thermal and mechanical equilibrium with ambient air.
  • the method may comprise reducing the thermal energy content of at least portions of the at least one fluid by means of a different portion of the at least one fluid at lower temperature levels.
  • the method may comprise supplying the at least one liquefaction module solely with at least one of the at least one fluid, wherein the one of the at least one fluid is at ambient temperature and elevated pressure and at least a portion of the at least one of the at least one fluid, which is at a reduced thermal energy content and an intermediate pressure, wherein the method comprises reducing the thermal energy content of the portion of the at least one of the at least one fluid solely by means of the liquefaction module, wherein the method comprises yielding at least partially a liquid phase from the one of at least one fluid by means of the at least one liquefaction module.
  • the method may comprise establishing a fluid communication between one of the at least one liquefaction module with at least one of the at least 2 thermal storage components.
  • the method may comprise decreasing the pressure of the at least one fluid to decrease the thermal energy content of the at least one fluid.
  • the method may comprise, in one of the at least one liquefaction module, yielding at least partially a liquid phase from the at least one fluid, wherein the one of the at least one liquefaction module may be arranged in series to at least one of: at least one of at least 2 pressure controlling components, at least one of at least 2 thermal storage components, one of the at least one storage tank for cryogenic liquid, and at least one of the at least one phase separator.
  • the method may comprise, in at least one component of at least one of the at least one liquefaction module, yielding at least partially a liquid phase from the at least one fluid in parallel to at least one of the at least 2 thermal storage components.
  • At least one of the least one heat exchanger component and at least one of the at least 2 thermal storage components receive a fluid flow from at least one of the at least one splitting element in series.
  • the method may comprise merging at least one stream of fluid of the at least one heat exchanger component with another stream of fluid in series with at least one of the at least 2 pressure controlling components.
  • the least one liquefaction module may comprise at least 2 of the at least 2 pressure controlling components arranged in series.
  • At least one of the at least 2 pressure controlling component may be arranged in parallel to at least one of the at least one heat exchanger component.
  • At least one of the at least 2 pressure controlling components may be arranged in series to at least one of the at least one heat exchanger component.
  • At least one of the at least 2 pressure controlling components may be arranged in parallel to at least one of the at least one heat exchanger component.
  • At least one of the at least 2 pressure controlling components may be arranged in series in between 2 of the at least 2 heat exchanger components.
  • the method may comprise receiving a stream of fluid at at least one of the at least 2 pressure controlling components from at least one of the at least one splitting element.
  • the method may comprise supplying the at least one stream of fluid by at least one of the at least one heat exchanger component.
  • the method may comprise supplying the at least one stream of fluid by another of at least one of the at least 2 pressure controlling components. At least one of the at least 2 pressure changing components may be in series to at least one of the at least one heat exchanger component.
  • One of the at least 2 thermal storage components may be arranged in between one of the at least 2 pressure controlling components and one of the at least one heat exchangers.
  • the method may comprise operating the at least one liquefaction module to yield at least 20 mass percent, more preferably at least 30 mass percent most preferable at least 40 mass percent liquid phase.
  • the method may comprise operating the at least one liquefaction module to yield at least partially a liquid phase from the at least one fluid at a pressure below 25 bar, more preferably below 20 bar, most preferably below 18 bar.
  • the method may comprise operating the at least one liquefaction module to yield at least partially a liquid phase from the at least one fluid at a pressure above 3 bar, more preferably above 5 bar, most preferably above 10 bar.
  • the method may comprise decreasing the pressure in at least one of the at least one liquefaction module close to the atmospheric pressure to reduce thermal energy content of the at least one fluid.
  • the method may comprise increasing the liquid yield of the at least one liquefaction module by means of thermal energy management.
  • the method may comprise yielding at least partially a liquid phase from at least one of the at least one fluid by means of at least one expansion.
  • the method may comprise increasing liquid yield from at least one of the at least one fluid by means of a second expansion and at least one heat exchanger component aiding thermal energy management.
  • the method may comprise increasing yield by means of the second expansion.
  • the method may comprise using gas phase of at least one of the at least one fluid for the second expansion.
  • the method may comprise achieving temperatures below the dew point of the at least one fluid at given pressure in the at least one liquefaction module.
  • the method may comprise providing to at least one liquefaction module a stream of fluid from at least one of the at least one splitting element with a ratio below 80 mass percent, more preferably below 65 mass percent, most preferably below 55 mass percent in proportion to the amount of fluid entering the splitting element.
  • the method may comprise reducing thermal energy content of at least one of the at least one fluid.
  • the method may comprise reducing the temperature of components of the energy storage system by means of the at least one fluid.
  • the method may comprise achieving a targeted operating temperature of components of the energy storage system by means of the at least one fluid.
  • the method may comprise reducing the temperature of the at least one fluid to the temperature level sufficient to cool at least one of the at least 2 thermal storage components.
  • the method may comprise: splitting a stream of fluid into at least one stream A and at least one stream B; and providing the at least one stream A to at least one of the at least 2 pressure controlling components, and the at least one stream B to at least one of the at least one heat exchanger component, wherein the at least one of the at least 2 pressure controlling components and the at least one of the at least one heat exchanger component are arranged in parallel; wherein the method comprises providing the at least one stream A and the at least one stream B by means of at least one of the at least one splitting element.
  • At least one of the at least 2 pressure controlling components may be in series to at least one of the at least one heat exchanger component.
  • the method may comprise actuating at least 2 of the at least 2 pressure controlling components and at least one of the at least one heat exchanger component to control the temperature of the at least one fluid at/close to at least one temperature constraint condition.
  • the method may comprise actuating at least 2 of the at least 2 pressure controlling components and at least one heat exchanger component to control the temperature of the at least one fluid at a temperature above its phase transition temperature at the given pressure.
  • the method may comprise storing compression heat in at least one heat storage comprising a direct heat exchange.
  • the system is configured to carry out the method as recited herein.
  • the method may comprise utilizing the system as recited herein to carry out the method as recited herein.
  • the method may comprise utilizing components of the system as recited to carry out given steps of the method as recited herein.
  • the invention also relates to use of the as recited herein for energy storing.
  • the invention further relates to use of the method as recited herein for a cryogenic energy storing.
  • the invention relates to use of the system as recited herein for a cryogenic energy storing.
  • An energy storage system comprising: at least one fluid input element for inputting at least one fluid, at least 2 thermal storage components configured to control a temperature of the at least one fluid, at least 2 pressure controlling components configured to perform at least one pressure change, and at least one liquefaction module configured to yield at least partially a liquid phase from at least one of the at least one fluid.
  • the at least one fluid output element is configured to feed back to the system at least a portion of at least one of the at least one fluid.
  • one of the at least 2 thermal storage components is configured to control the temperature of the at least one fluid, wherein the one of the at least 2 thermal storage components is arranged in series to at least one of the at least 2 pressure controlling components.
  • one of the at least 2 thermal storage components is configured to control the temperature of the at least one fluid before a first pressure controlling component.
  • one of the at least 2 thermal storage components is configured to control the temperature of the at least one fluid before a second pressure controlling component.
  • one of the at least 2 thermal storage components is configured to control the temperature of the at least one fluid after the first pressure controlling component.
  • one of the at least 2 thermal storage components is configured to control the temperature of the at least one fluid after the second pressure controlling component.
  • system comprises at least one splitting element configured to split a flow of the at least one fluid.
  • one of the at least 2 thermal storage components is configured to control the temperature of the at least one fluid, wherein the one of the at least 2 thermal storage component is arranged in series to at least one of the at least one liquefaction module.
  • one of the at least 2 thermal storage components is configured to control the temperature of the at least one fluid before one of the at least one liquefaction module.
  • one of the at least 2 thermal storage components is configured to control the temperature of the at least one fluid in parallel to at least one component of at least one of the at least one liquefaction module.
  • one of the at least 2 thermal storage components is configured to control the temperature of the at least one fluid after one of the at least one splitting element.
  • thermal storage components are arranged in series and configured to control the temperature of the at least one fluid parallel to at least one component of at least one of the at least one liquefaction module.
  • the at least one of the at least 2 pressure controlling components comprises at least one of: a pump, a compression component, an expansion component, a heater, a heat exchanger component, a fan and a blower.
  • At least one of the at least 2 pressure controlling components comprises a compressor configured to operate reversibly.
  • the at least 2 pressure controlling components comprises at least one heat exchanger component configured to change the thermal energy content of the at least one fluid.
  • system comprising at least one phase separator component configured to separate a liquid phase and/or a gas phase from the at least one fluid.
  • At least one of the at least one phase separator component is configured to supply a gas phase from the at least one fluid to at least one of the at least one liquefaction module.
  • the at least one fluid comprising at least one of: air, nitrogen, helium, hydrogen, argon, methane, carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide, oxygen, water, or any combination thereof.
  • the at least one fluid comprises at least one cryogenic liquid of: air, nitrogen, helium, hydrogen, argon, methane, carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide, oxygen, water or any combination thereof.
  • one of the at least one impurity removing component comprises at least one of: filter, adsorbent station, phase separator, cold trap, fluid removal component. 551. The system according to any of the preceding embodiments, wherein the at least one impurity removing component is configured to remove at least one of: water, carbon dioxide, hydrocarbons, suspended particles or any combination thereof.
  • the impurity removal component removes moisture to reach to a dew point of at least 263 K, more preferably 243 K, most preferably 223 K.
  • the at least one impurity removing component is arranged in series to at least one of: at least one of at least 2 pressure controlling components, at least one of at least 2 thermal storage components, at least one of the at least one liquefaction module, one of the at least one phase separator, at least one of at least one pump, and at least one of at least one storage tank for cryogenic liquid.
  • At least one of the at least one impurity removing component is configured to remove impurities immediately after one of the at least one fluid input elements.
  • thermo storage components comprises at least one storage configured to store thermal energy.
  • At least one of the at least one storage is at least one of: a packed bed heat storage, structured solid heat storage, latent heat storage.
  • the at least one fluid comprises at least one first fluid and at least one second fluid.
  • At least one of the at least 2 thermal storage components comprises one of the at least 2 pressure controlling components, configured to control the flow of the at least one second fluid.
  • At least one of the at least 2 thermal storage components comprises at least one heat exchanger component configured to control the thermal energy content of the at least one fluid.
  • the at least one temperature constraint condition comprises at least one of: a maximum temperature, wherein the maximum temperature is determined by the temperature of the at least one fluid after compression, a minimum temperature of one of the at least one fluid in interaction with at least one of the at least 2 thermal storage components, a minimum temperature of the liquid phase of at least one of the at least one fluid, a temperature requirement of a component of the system downstream of another component of the system, a phase transition temperature of the at least one fluid with respect to its pressure level, a phase transition temperature of the at least one second fluid with respect to its pressure level, a common intermediate temperature of one of the at least one fluid between two consecutive thermal storage components, wherein the shared intermediate temperature is determined to ensure that the two consecutive thermal storage components reach to a same internal temperature distribution before and after each consecutive charging and discharging of the system for the same time period, a temperature constraint determined to ensure a continuous heat flow between at least 2 media exchanging heat, wherein the continuous heat flow occurs along the length of a
  • At least one of the at least 2 thermal storage components comprises a temperature lower than 273 K, preferably lower than 223 K, preferably lower than 183 K.
  • At least one of the at least 2 thermal storage components comprises a temperature lower than 150 K, preferably lower than 140 K, more preferably lower than 120 K.
  • system comprises at least one of: a sensor, an insulating component, a piping element, a heat exchanger component, a heater, and a filter.
  • the at least one insulating component comprises at least one of: glass wool, stone wool, rock wool, polystyrene, polytetrafluorethylene, cellulose, perlite, polystyrene foam, polyurethane, aerogel, soundproofing material, and vacuum.
  • At least one of the at least one blower is configured to aid removal of thermal energy content from the stream of the fluid whose temperature is controlled by one of the least two thermal storage components, and transport removed energy to the at least one storage component.
  • At least one of the at least one blower is configured to aid removal thermal energy content from the at least one storage component, and transport removed energy into the stream of the fluid whose temperature is controlled by one of the least two thermal storage components.
  • the at least one blower is configured to control the flow of at least one of the at least one second fluid separated from the at least one fluid.
  • the at least one auxiliary component comprises at least one of: evaporator, motor, generator, electrical driving component, control loop component, sensor, piping element, insulating component, valve element, blower, fan, silencer, filter, heat recovery component, and power supplying component.
  • SI 13 The system according to any of the preceding embodiments, wherein the at least 2 pressure controlling components comprises at least one non-isothermal compressor.
  • SI 14 The system according to any of the preceding embodiments, wherein the system comprises at least one of: electrical inverter, wire, transformer, electrical converter.
  • SI 15 The system according to any of the preceding embodiments and with features of embodiment S25, wherein the expansion component comprises at least one of: an expander and a throttle valve.
  • the at least one expander comprises at least one of: turbo expander, volumetric expander, piston, screw, scroll.
  • SI 17 The system according to any of the preceding embodiments, wherein the at least one fluid comprises a liquid phase.
  • SI 18 The system according to any of the preceding embodiments, wherein one of the at least one storage tank for cryogenic liquid is configured to confine the liquid phase of one of the at least one fluid.
  • SI 19 The system according to any of the preceding embodiments and embodiment S18, wherein the one of the at least one storage tank for cryogenic liquid is arranged in series to at least one of: at least one of the at least 2 pressure controlling components, at least one of the at least 2 thermal storage components, at least one of the at least one liquefaction module, and one of the at least one phase separator.
  • one of the at least one storage tank for cryogenic liquid comprises a pressure vessel.
  • the pressure vessel comprises a pressure between 1 and 37 bar, preferably between 5 and 30 bar, more preferably between 10 and 20 bar.
  • one of the at least one storage tank for cryogenic liquid comprises a pressure controlling component.
  • one of the at least one storage tank for cryogenic liquid comprises at least one phase separator.
  • outlet temperature T o is at least 100 K above the inlet temperature T iz preferably at least 150 K above the inlet temperature T iz more preferably at least 200 K above the inlet temperature .
  • outlet temperature T o is at most 800 K below the inlet temperature T iz preferably at most 500 K below the inlet temperature T iz more preferably at most 300 K below the inlet temperature .
  • the charging mode is configured to consume energy to store heat and yield at least partially a liquid phase of at least one of the at least one fluid.
  • the charging mode is configured to consume energy to yield at least partially a liquid phase of at least one of the at least one fluid by changing pressure and enthalpy of at least one of the at least one fluid.
  • the discharging mode is configured to consume heat and liquid to generate energy.
  • connection type comprising at least one of: belt, gearbox, and direct connection of shaft.
  • the at least one of the at least one electrical driving component comprises a type of at least one of: induction, permanent magnet, reluctance, synchronous, and asynchronous.
  • the at least one valve is comprised by at least one of: pressure changing component, thermal storage component, liquefaction module, pump, phase separator, tank for cryogenic liquid, impurities removal component.
  • the at least one valve comprises at least one of: a check valve, a flow control valve, a shut-off valve, a throttle valve, a safety valve such as pressure relief valve, and a sampling valve.
  • At least one of the at least one pressure relief valve is connected to at least one of: storage tank, at least one of the at least 2 thermal storage components.
  • at least one of the at least 2 pressure controlling components comprises at least one of: volumetric compressor, turbo compressor.
  • At least one of the at least 2 pressure controlling components comprises at least one of: piston compressor, scroll compressor, screw compressor, vane compressor, roots compressor.
  • At least one of the at least one liquefaction module is configured to be in fluid communication with at least one of the at least 2 thermal storage components.
  • At least one of the at least one liquefaction module comprises at least one of the at least 2 pressure controlling components.
  • At least one of the at least one liquefaction module comprises at least one heat exchanger component.
  • the at least one heat exchanger component comprises at least one of: plate-fin heat exchanger, plate heat exchanger, shell and tube heat exchanger, and regenerative heat exchanger.
  • splitting element is configured to split a fluid flow at variable split ratios.
  • one of the at least one splitting element is configured to vary the split ratio between one of the at least 2 thermal storage components and one of the at least one liquefaction module.
  • one of the at least one splitting element is configured to adjust the splitting ratio to balance the amount of thermal energy content transferred to one of the at least 2 thermal storage components with the thermal energy content available from a liquid phase yielded.
  • At least one of the at least one liquefaction module comprises at least one of the at least one merging element.
  • At least one of the at least one liquefaction module comprises at least one of the at least 2 thermal storage components
  • At least one of the at least one liquefaction module comprises at least one of the at least one fluid output elements.
  • At least one of the at least one liquefaction module comprises at least one of the one fluid input elements.
  • At least one of the at least one liquefaction module comprises at least one insulating component.
  • At least one of the at least one liquefaction module comprises at least one auxiliary component.
  • one of the at least one liquefaction module is configured to reduce the thermal energy content of the at least one fluid.
  • one of the at least one liquefaction module is configured to exhaust at least a part of the at least one fluid close to its thermal and mechanical equilibrium with ambient air.
  • one of the at least one liquefaction module is configured to reduce the thermal energy content of at least portions of the at least one fluid by means of a different portion of the at least one fluid at lower temperature levels. 5196.
  • the at least one liquefaction module is supplied with at least one of the at least one fluid at ambient temperature and elevated pressure, and with at least a portion of the at least one of the at least one fluid, which is at a reduced thermal energy content and an intermediate pressure, wherein the thermal energy content of the portion of the at least one of the at least one fluid is first reduced solely by means of the liquefaction module, wherein the at least one liquefaction module is configured to yield at least partially a liquid phase from the one of the at least one fluid.
  • one of the at least one liquefaction module is configured to decrease the pressure of the at least one fluid to decrease the thermal energy content of the at least one fluid.
  • one of the at least one liquefaction module is configured to yield at least partially a liquid phase from the at least one fluid
  • the one of the at least one liquefaction module is arranged in series to at least one of: at least one of at least 2 pressure controlling components, at least one of at least 2 thermal storage components, one of the at least one storage tank for cryogenic liquid, and at least one of the at least one phase separator.
  • one of the at least 2 thermal storage components is arranged in between one of the at least 2 pressure controlling components and one of the at least one heat exchanger component.
  • the at least one liquefaction module is configured to yield at least 20 mass percent, more preferably at least 30 mass percent most preferable at least 40 mass percent liquid phase.
  • the at least one liquefaction module is configured to yield at least partially a liquid phase from the at least one fluid at a pressure below 25 bar, more preferably below 20 bar, most preferably below 18 bar.
  • the at least one liquefaction module is configured to yield at least partially a liquid phase from the at least one fluid at a pressure above 3 bar, more preferably above 5 bar, most preferably above 10 bar. 5215. The system according to any of the preceding embodiments, wherein the at least one liquefaction module is configured to decrease the pressure to close to the atmospheric pressure to reduce thermal energy content of the at least one fluid.
  • the at least one liquefaction module is configured to yield at least partially a liquid phase from at least one of the at least one fluid by means of at least one expansion.
  • the at least one liquefaction module is configured to increase the liquid yield from at least one of the at least one fluid by means of a second expansion and at least one heat exchanger component aiding thermal energy management.
  • the at least one liquefaction module is configured to receive a stream of fluid from at least one of the at least one splitting element with a ratio below 80 mass percent, more preferably below 65 mass percent, most preferably below 55 mass percent in proportion to the amount of fluid entering the splitting element.
  • S225 The system according to any of the preceding embodiments, wherein the system is configured to achieve a targeted operating temperature of components by means of at least one of the at least one fluid.
  • S226 The system according to any of the preceding embodiments, wherein the system is configured to reduce the temperature of the at least one fluid to the temperature level sufficient to cool at least one of the at least 2 thermal storage components.
  • a method for storing energy comprising inputting at least one fluid to an energy storage system, controlling a temperature of the at least one fluid, performing at least one pressure change, yielding at least partially a liquid phase from at least one of the at least one fluid, and storing thermal energy.
  • M14 The method according to any of the preceding method embodiments, wherein the method comprises controlling the temperature of the at least one fluid, wherein the one of the at least 2 thermal storage component is arranged in series to at least one of the at least one liquefaction module.
  • M15 The method according the preceding embodiment, wherein the method comprises controlling the temperature of the at least one fluid before one of the at least one liquefaction module.
  • M20 The method according to any of the preceding method embodiments, wherein the method comprises controlling the temperature and pressure of the at least one fluid in at least one of at least one storage tank for cryogenic liquid.
  • the method comprises controlling the temperature of the at least one fluid after the first pressure controlling component, controlling the temperature of the at least one fluid after the second pressure controlling component, and controlling the temperature of the at least one fluid parallel to at least one component of at least one of the at least one liquefaction module.
  • M24 The method according to any of the preceding method embodiments, wherein the method comprises compressing at least one of the at least one fluid.
  • M25 The method according to any of the preceding method embodiments, wherein the method comprises controlling the flow of the at least one fluid.
  • the method comprises controlling the pressure, wherein at least one of the at least 2 pressure controlling components is arranged in series to at least one of: at least one of at least one fluid input element, at least one of at least one liquefaction module, at least one of at least one fluid output element, at least one of at least 2 thermal storage components, at least one of at least 2 pressure controlling components.
  • the method comprises controlling the pressure, wherein one of the at least 2 pressure controlling components is arranged in parallel to at least one of the at least 2 pressure controlling components.
  • the at least one fluid comprising at least one of: air, nitrogen, helium, hydrogen, argon, methane, carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide, oxygen, water, or any combination thereof.
  • M36 The method according to any of the 2 preceding embodiments, wherein the method comprises using at least one cryogenic liquid comprising at least one of: air, nitrogen, helium, hydrogen, argon, methane, carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide, oxygen, water or any combination thereof.
  • M37 The method according to any of the preceding method embodiments, wherein the method comprises compressing at least one of at least one fluid to a pressure above a critical pressure.
  • the method comprises removing impurities by means of the at least one impurity removing component arranged in series to at least one of: at least one of at least 2 pressure controlling components, at least one of at least 2 thermal storage components, at least one of the at least one liquefaction module, one of the at least one phase separator, at least one of at least one pump, and at least one of at least one storage tank for cryogenic liquid.
  • M59 The method according to any of the preceding method embodiments, wherein the method comprises utilizing elevated pressure.
  • M60 The method according to any of the preceding method embodiments, wherein the method comprises operating at least one component of the system at pressures greater than 1 bar, preferably greater than 10 bar, more preferably greater than 40 bar, most preferably greater than 50 bars.
  • the temperature constraint condition comprises at least one of: a maximum temperature, wherein the maximum temperature is determined by the temperature of the at least one fluid after compression, a minimum temperature of one of the at least one fluid in interaction with at least one of the at least 2 thermal storage components, a minimum temperature of the liquid phase of at least one of the at least one fluid, a temperature requirement of a component of the energy storage system downstream of another component of the energy storage, a phase transition temperature of the at least one fluid with respect to its pressure level, a phase transition temperature of the at least one second fluid with respect to its pressure level, a common intermediate temperature of one of the at least one fluid between two consecutive thermal storage components, wherein the shared intermediate temperature is determined to ensure that the two consecutive thermal storage components reach to a same internal temperature distribution before and after each consecutive charging and discharging of the energy storage system for the same time period, a temperature constraint determined to ensure a continuous heat flow between at least 2 media exchanging heat, wherein the continuous heat flow occurs along the length
  • M76 The method according to any of the preceding method embodiments, wherein the method comprises controlling the energy storage system by means of at least one of: control component, control loop, and control system.
  • M78 The method according to any of the preceding method embodiments, wherein the method comprises operating the system in a discharging mode.
  • M79 The method according to any of the preceding method embodiments, wherein the method comprises actuating one of the at least one impurity removing component while the system is in the charging mode.
  • the at least one fluid comprises a liquid phase.
  • the method comprises confining the liquid phase of one of the at least one fluid in one of the at least one storage tank for cryogenic liquid.
  • the one of the at least one storage tank for cryogenic liquid is arranged in series to at least one of: at least one of the at least 2 pressure controlling components, at least one of the at least 2 thermal storage components, at least one of the at least one liquefaction module, and one of the at least one phase separator.
  • one of the at least one storage tank for cryogenic liquid comprises a pressure vessel.
  • the pressure vessel comprises a pressure between 1 and 37 bar, preferably between 5 and 30 bar, more preferably between 10 and 20 bar.
  • one of the at least one storage tank for cryogenic liquid comprises a pressure controlling component.
  • M98 The method according to any of the preceding method embodiments, wherein the method comprises maintaining the temperature and pressure of liquid contained in one of the at least one storage tank for cryogenic liquid. M99. The method according to any of the preceding method embodiments, wherein the method comprises changing a pressure in at least one stage.
  • M105 The method according to any of the preceding method embodiments, wherein the method comprises changing a temperature of at least one of the at least one fluid from an inlet temperature to an outlet temperature T o , wherein the outlet temperature T o is different from inlet temperature .
  • outlet temperature T o is at least 100 K above the inlet temperature T iz preferably at least 150 K above the inlet temperature T iz more preferably at least 200 K above the inlet temperature .
  • outlet temperature T o is at most 1500 K above the inlet temperature T iz preferably at most 900 K above the inlet temperature T iz more preferably at most 500 K above the inlet temperature .
  • outlet temperature T o is at least 20 K below the inlet temperature T iz preferably at least 50 K below the inlet temperature T iz more preferably at least 80 K below the inlet temperature .
  • Ml 14 The method according to any of the two preceding embodiments, wherein the method comprises operating at least one of the at least 2 pressure controlling components by means of generated and/or consumed energy.
  • the charging mode comprises consuming energy to store heat and yield at least partially a liquid phase of at least one of the at least one fluid.
  • the charging mode comprises consuming energy to yield at least partially a liquid phase of at least one of the at least one fluid by changing pressure and enthalpy of at least one of the at least one fluid.
  • M132 The method according to any of the preceding method embodiments, wherein the method comprises establishing at least one of the at least one fluid connection between at least one of the at least one liquefaction module with at least one of the at least one phase separator.
  • M133 The method according to any of the preceding method embodiments, wherein at least one of the at least one liquefaction module comprises at least one of the at least 2 pressure controlling components of the energy storage system.
  • M144 The method according to any of the preceding method embodiments, wherein the method comprises delivering at least one stream of fluid to at least one of the least one heat exchanger component from at least one of the at least one splitting elements.
  • M145 The method according to any of the preceding method embodiments, wherein the method reducing the thermal energy content of the at least one fluid.
  • the method comprises supplying the at least one liquefaction module solely with at least one of the at least one fluid, wherein the one of the at least one fluid is at ambient temperature and elevated pressure and at least a portion of the at least one of the at least one fluid, which is at a reduced thermal energy content and an intermediate pressure, wherein the method comprises reducing the thermal energy content of the portion of the at least one of the at least one fluid solely by means of the liquefaction module, wherein the method comprises yielding at least partially a liquid phase from the one of at least one fluid by means of the at least one liquefaction module.
  • the method comprises, in one of the at least one liquefaction module, yielding at least partially a liquid phase from the at least one fluid, wherein the one of the at least one liquefaction module is arranged in series to at least one of: at least one of at least 2 pressure controlling components, at least one of at least 2 thermal storage components, one of the at least one storage tank for cryogenic liquid, and at least one of the at least one phase separator.
  • M152 The method according to any of the preceding method embodiments, wherein the method comprises, in at least one component of at least one of the at least one liquefaction module, yielding at least partially a liquid phase from the at least one fluid in parallel to at least one of the at least 2 thermal storage components.
  • M153 The method according to any of the preceding method embodiments, wherein at least one of the least one heat exchanger component and at least one of the at least 2 thermal storage components receive a fluid flow from at least one of the at least one splitting element in series.
  • the at least one liquefaction module comprises at least 2 of the at least 2 pressure controlling components arranged in series.
  • the method comprises operating the at least one liquefaction module to yield at least partially a liquid phase from the at least one fluid at a pressure below 25 bar, more preferably below 20 bar, most preferably below 18 bar.
  • the method comprises providing to at least one liquefaction module a stream of fluid from at least one of the at least one splitting element with a ratio below 80 mass percent, more preferably below 65 mass percent, most preferably below 55 mass percent in proportion to the amount of fluid entering the splitting element.
  • the method comprises splitting a stream of fluid into at least one stream A and at least one stream B; and providing the at least one stream A to at least one of the at least 2 pressure controlling components, and the at least one stream B to at least one of the at least one heat exchanger component, wherein the at least one of the at least 2 pressure controlling components and the at least one of the at least one heat exchanger component are arranged in parallel; wherein the method comprises providing the at least one stream A and the at least one stream B by means of at least one of the at least one splitting element.
  • the method comprises actuating at least 2 of the at least 2 pressure controlling components and at least one of the at least one heat exchanger component to control the temperature of the at least one fluid at/close to at least one temperature constraint condition.
  • the method comprises actuating at least 2 of the at least 2 pressure controlling components and at least one heat exchanger component to control the temperature of the at least one fluid at a temperature above its phase transition temperature at the given pressure.
  • Fig. 1 depicts a system for storing energy according to embodiments of the present invention
  • Fig. 2 depicts a configuration of the system for storing energy according to embodiments of the present invention
  • Fig. 3 depicts a further configuration of the system according to embodiments of the present invention
  • Fig. 4 depicts an additional configuration of the system according to embodiments of the present invention.
  • Fig. 5 depicts an embodiment of the system comprising 2 additional expanders and 1 additional heat exchanger according to embodiments of the present invention
  • Fig. 6 depicts an embodiment of the system comprising a bypass stream boosted to a higher pressure and expanded to create cold according to embodiments of the present invention
  • Fig. 7 depicts a priming module attached and combined with the energy storing system according to embodiments of the present invention.
  • Fig. 1 schematically depicts a system configured to store energy according to embodiments of the present invention.
  • the system comprises: compression/expansion stages conceptually depicted by reference numeral 110 and 120, thermal energy storages 130 and 140, liquefaction module 1000, and phase-separator/liquid storage tank(s) 150.
  • An inlet fluid which might also be mixed with other supplies of fluid ready to be used, first needs to be prepared for further processing.
  • the preparation step can remove the moisture and any other components, which might be undesirably condensate or even freeze under the operating conditions of the system downstream.
  • the dry fluid then is pressurized to the intended operating pressure. This may involve multiple compression stages.
  • the heat of compression carried by the fluid is stored in a thermal storage component 130, 140 (which itself may contain multiple subcomponents), if needed. Therefore, the outcome of each compression stage combined with thermal storage is a flow of fluid at elevated pressure and room temperature. Eventually, a stream of fluid at desired pressure and room temperature is achieved to be fed into other sections of the process, e.g., the liquefaction module 1000.
  • the main purpose of the liquefaction module 1000 is to at least partially liquefy the fluid. To optimize the process this liquefaction is happening at intermediate pressure. Liquefaction could either happen independent of any external thermal storage component 130, 140 or in combination with them.
  • the configuration of the liquefaction module 1000 allows the entire stream of fluid, at elevated pressure and room temperature, could be fed into the liquefaction module 1000, gets at least partially liquefied resulting in a two-phase stream. These two phases are getting separated from each other in a phase-separator 150, the liquid phase can be stored and the gas phase is fed back into the liquefaction module 1000 and used in the thermal energy management processes which are the core of the liquefaction module 1000.
  • the elevated pressure and room temperature fluid can also be split and a portion of it first being pre-cooled and/or partially liquefied through thermal storage components 130, 140, that are shown here as "Thermal store 2" 140. These thermal storage components 140 are called cold storages, as they are at temperatures below room temperature.
  • the liquefaction module 1000 is aided by the thermal storage components 130, 140 in order to have a higher liquid yield.
  • additional components can be used or liquid can be created via the liquefaction module 1000 to prepare the storages while discharging as described below.
  • the so-called charging mode of the system comprises consuming energy to feed the process with a fluid, compressing it to the desired pressure, storing the available heat of compression, at least partially liquefying it (either by using cold storages or independent of them), and storing the liquid phase at an intermediate pressure.
  • the accessible fraction of the spent energy in this mode is stored in the form of heat, e.g., in Thermal store 1 130 and in the form of pressurized liquid (which could be at cryogenic temperatures) in liquid storage tank(s).
  • the system can remain in the charged state, and when needed goes to the discharge mode. In this mode, the liquid phase is pressurized back to the maximum pressure of the system in the charging mode, then vaporized in the cold storages.
  • the cold storages which has been at least partially depleted during the previous charging mode, are regenerated as they provide the latent heat of vaporization and sensible heat to heat up the vaporized liquid. During this process, cold storages are regenerated by supplying heat therefore getting cold themselves.
  • the produced high pressure room temperature gas as the output of liquid phase interaction with, e.g., Thermal store 2 140 gets further heated up by interacting with Thermal store 1 130, which stored heat of compression during the charging mode. That results in high pressure high temperature gas. This gas is then expanded and runs generator(s) of choice to create the energy back, and exhausted afterward.
  • the system is designed and tuned so that the cooling capacity of the cold storages, which is created during the discharge mode of the system, should balance the amount of the heat that needs to be removed to pre-cool the portion of the stream interacting with it in the next charging mode.
  • the splitting element can be used at different splitting ratios to adjust the proportion of the fluid that enters the liquefaction module 1000 directly to that which is getting in interaction with cold storages to be pre-cooled. Therefore, after each chargingdischarge cycle the cold storages are at the same state.
  • the gas phase outlet of the phase separator which is at intermediate pressure, is fed back to the liquefaction module 1000. That is to use the maximum cooling capacity of this stream by further expanding it inside the liquefaction module 1000 to the lower pressure. It then leaves the liquefaction module 1000 and can either be exhausted or mixed with fresh non-dry input fluid so less drying and preparation effort/energy is needed.
  • the liquefaction module 1000 contains multiple components. The aim of liquefaction is achieved through thermal energy management in the context of the present invention.
  • the components of the liquefaction module 1000 may comprise different arrangements and configurations that allows different thermal energy management alternatives.
  • liquefaction module 1000 is designed and tuned such that the temperature and pressure of the yielded liquid ensures that the balance between the heat removed from the fluid in interaction with cold storages in charging mode balances the heat added to the fluid from the cold storages in discharge mode.
  • Figs. 2-6 schematically depict configurations of the liquefaction module 1000 according to embodiments of the present invention.
  • the liquefaction module 1000 depicted in Fig. 2 comprises a heat exchanger 1010, expanders 1020 and 1030, and a throttle valve 1040.
  • a portion of the fluid stream at high pressure and room temperature after the split enters the liquefaction module 1000. It then experiences another split inside the liquefaction module 1000; a portion of that is expanded and mixed with the already expanded gas stream out of the phase separator 150. That mixture, which now is at the minimum possible pressure and temperature, is used the cool down the other portion of the stream after the internal split that was not expanded. This cooling process happens in a heat exchanger component.
  • this cooled down stream out of the heat exchanger is mixed with another stream (the other portion of the split outside of the liquefaction module 1000) which is pre-cooled through interacting with the cold storages.
  • This mixture, with high pressure and low temperature is then throttled to an intermediate temperature resulting in partial liquefaction.
  • This two-phase stream leaves the liquefaction module 1000, the liquid phase is separated from the gas phase and stored.
  • the gas phase is fed back to the liquefaction module 1000 and processed as described earlier. After the designated charging mode duration is over, the accumulated liquid is kept in storage(s), and used in the next discharge mode to create energy and to set up the thermal storage components.
  • the liquefaction module 1000 depicted in Fig. 3 comprises heat exchangers 1050, 1060 and 1070, expanders 1080 and 1090, and a throttle valve 1110.
  • a portion of the fluid stream at high pressure and room temperature after the split enters the liquefaction module 1000. It then experiences another split inside the liquefaction module 1000; a portion of that is precooled in a heat exchanger before being expanded to an intermediate pressure (the same pressure as that of the gas leaving the phase separator and being fed back to the liquefaction module 1000). After this expansion, the stream is mixed with the gas stream of the phase separator and expanded to the lowest pressure possible in order to create the coldest possible stream of fluid to be used for liquefaction.
  • Another portion of the fluid stream at high pressure and room temperature after the split outside of the liquefaction module 1000 is send to the Thermal store 2 to be pre-cooled. After that, it enters the liquefaction module 1000 and gets split again. One portion of it is first mixed with the remaining stream of the other split of the high pressure and room temperature stream and resulting in a lower temperature flow. It then further cools down in a heat exchanger, and gets mixed with the remaining portion of the stream which was entered the liquefaction module 1000 from the cold storages. This final stream is again further cooled down in a heat exchanger before going through a throttle valve, where it is at least partially liquefies.
  • This two-phase stream leaves the liquefaction module 1000, the liquid phase is separated from the gas phase and stored. The gas phase is fed back to the liquefaction module 1000 and processed as described earlier. After the designated charging mode duration is over, the accumulated liquid is kept in storage(s), and used in the next discharge mode to create energy.
  • the liquefaction module 1000 depicted in Fig. 4 comprises heat exchangers 1110 and 1120, and expanders 1130 and 1140.
  • a portion of the fluid stream at high pressure and room temperature after the split enters the liquefaction module 1000.
  • This stream is pre-cooled in a heat exchanger before being mixed with the rest of the split stream which is already pre-cooled in the Thermal store 2 140 using cold storages before being fed to the liquefaction module 1000.
  • the mixture is expanded to an intermediate pressure resulting in partial liquefaction.
  • This two-phase stream is then sent to another heat exchanger, and further cooled down to increase the liquid yield.
  • the resulting two- phase stream with higher liquid fraction leaves the liquefaction module 1000; the liquid phase is separated from the gas phase and stored.
  • the gas phase is fed back to the liquefaction module 1000 and gets expanded to the lowest pressure possible which would result in the cooling capacity that is needed in the liquefaction module 1000.
  • the accumulated liquid is kept in storage(s), and used in the next discharge mode to create energy.
  • the liquefaction module 1000 depicted in Fig. 5 comprises a heat exchanger 1150, an expander 1160 and a throttle valve 1170.
  • a portion of the fluid stream at high pressure and room temperature after the split enters the liquefaction module 1000.
  • This stream is pre-cooled in a heat exchanger before being mixed with the rest of the split stream which is already pre-cooled in the Thermal store 2 using cold storages and entered the liquefaction module 1000.
  • This pre-cooled mixture at high pressure then goes through a throttle valve where its pressure drops to an intermediate level, resulting in at a least partial liquefaction.
  • This two-phase stream leaves the liquefaction module 1000, the liquid phase is separated from the gas phase and stored.
  • the gas phase is fed back to the liquefaction module 1000 and gets expanded to the lowest pressure possible which would result in the cooling capacity that is needed in the liquefaction module 1000. After the designated charging mode duration is over, the accumulated liquid is kept in storage(s), and used in the next discharge mode to create energy.
  • the liquefaction module 1000 depicted in Fig. 6 comprises heat exchangers 1190, 1210 and 1230, a compressor 1180, an expander 1240, a thermal storage component 1220, and a throttle valve 1200.
  • a portion of the fluid stream at high pressure and room temperature after the split enters the liquefaction module 1000.
  • This stream is used as the main source of cold creation that is needed in the liquefaction module 1000.
  • it is compressed to even higher pressure level and the heat of compression is stored in a thermal store 3 component. It is then pre-cooled in a heat exchanger before being expanded to the lowest pressure possible. This results in a stream with the cooling capacity needed in the liquefaction module 1000.
  • the other portion of the split stream is sent to the Thermal store 2 where it is pre-cooled using the cold storages.
  • this stream enters the liquefaction module 1000, it is further cooled down in a heat exchanger before being throttled to an intermediate pressure. Throttling results in at least partial liquefaction. To increase the liquid yield to 100%, this stream enters another heat exchanger where further liquefaction takes place. The generated liquid is then stored. After the designated charging mode duration is over, the accumulated liquid is kept in storage(s), and used in the next discharge mode to create energy.
  • Fig. 7 schematically depicts a configuration of the system according to embodiment of the present invention comprising a heat exchanger 160, and expanders 170 and 180.
  • the components in Fig 7. depict the method according to embodiments of the present invention to regenerate the cold in Thermal store 2 140 (cold storages) independent of the discharge mode of the system.
  • the high-pressure room temperature stream leaving Thermal store 1 130 is split in two portions. One portion is expanded to the lowest pressure possible, and used as the cooling source for the other portion in a heat exchanger 160. Once the other portion is pre-cooled (at high pressure) and leaves the heat exchanger, it is expanded to the lowest pressure possible. This results in a stream with a cooling capacity that can regenerate the cold storages in the Thermal store 2 140.
  • thermal energy management when terms like “in parallel” or “in series” are used, they may be considered according to the process engineering steps in the context of the features they are describing.
  • thermal energy management it may comprise for instance, but not limited to, the following system properties: the maximum operation pressure and the liquefaction pressure, the concept and ratio of the split between liquefaction module and thermal storage component, any internal splits of the liquefaction module, the arrangement of heat exchangers for continuous flow between the two fluids, the arrangement of the components of the liquefaction module, all in respect to the process engineering steps in the context of the features used.
  • a first option and a second option is intended to mean the first option or the second option or the first option and the second option.
  • step (X) preceding step (Z) encompasses the situation that step (X) is performed directly before step (Z), but also the situation that (X) is performed before one or more steps (Yl), ..., followed by step (Z).
  • step (Z) encompasses the situation that step (X) is performed directly before step (Z), but also the situation that (X) is performed before one or more steps (Yl), ..., followed by step (Z).

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Abstract

La présente invention concerne un système de stockage d'énergie, le système comprenant : au moins un élément d'entrée de fluide servant à l'entrée d'au moins un fluide, au moins 2 composants de stockage thermique configurés pour commander une température desdits fluides, au moins 2 composants de commande de pression configurés pour effectuer au moins un changement de pression, et au moins un module de liquéfaction configuré pour produire au moins partiellement une phase liquide à partir desdits fluides. La présente invention concerne également un procédé de stockage d'énergie mis en œuvre dans le système, le procédé comprenant l'entrée d'au moins un fluide dans un système de stockage d'énergie, la commande d'une température dudit fluide, la réalisation d'au moins un changement de pression, la production d'au moins partiellement une phase liquide à partir d'au moins un dudit fluide, et le stockage d'énergie thermique.
PCT/EP2023/056501 2022-08-19 2023-03-14 Stockage d'énergie thermique, système et procédé WO2024037746A1 (fr)

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Citations (9)

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EP2603761B1 (fr) 2010-08-12 2017-10-11 Highview Enterprises Limited Procédé et appareil pour stocker l'énergie thermique
EP2753808A1 (fr) 2011-09-05 2014-07-16 Boge Kompressoren Installation pour l'accumulation d'énergie au moyen d'air comprimé
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